Interest surges in online US military recruiting

SAN FRANCISCO - A website for US military personnel and veterans has seen visitor traffic more than triple since last week's attacks on New York and the Pentagon, with many looking to sign up for the US armed forces and reserves, the site's operators said yesterday.

"Recruiting is very big, both in terms of active duty and with veterans looking for reserve options," said Anne Dwane, vice president of Military Advantage, the San Francisco company that operates the www.military.com website.

The commercial site links visitors to armed forces recruiters, provides news and information on veterans benefits and sells military paraphernalia.

Dwane said the website was on track to see three or four times its usual visitor traffic of 2 million unique visitors a month.

The surge in visitors came after hijackers crashed jetliners into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 15, killing an estimated 5,000 people.

"The reality is that freedom is not free, and it seems our community is really mobilising," Dwane said.

Military Advantage, founded August 1999, has been backed by $US31 million in venture capital and is one of a handful of private-sector, multiple-purpose "community" websites to have survived the dot-com shakeout.

www.military.com