He was at a naval air station when fellow aviators were lamenting the fact that they couldn't stay connected. He quit his civilian job and developed the website, bringing on board other military members such as retired Army public affairs officer Michael Doble, the company's director of corporate communication. S.C. Oliver said the idea for a free site for old service buddies to find each other came up when talking about old friends with his neighbor, retired NCO Ed McWhirter. During an Internet search they found sites that either charged a fee or were just lists with no search features, Oliver said. Oliver and McWhirter had their site set up like a convention center with meeting rooms, so people can have a neutral place to meet without giving out too much private information.
Members register their names and duty stations in searchable databases.
Virtual Battalion focuses on soldiers' careers and features a site devoted to noncommissioned officers, while Army HQ includes sites on home and off-duty life. Careers to use its job-search tools. Now soldiers no longer need to lament the difficulty of keeping in touch. With the Internet, the information an Army family needs is just a click away.