Dear Navy Veterans and Service Member Supporters,

We are grateful to all of you for your service to our nation and the many sacrifices by you and your families. Thank you. We want to let you know about an excellent and user free resource for all of your members and their dependents. Please check out www.militaryconnection.com. I am copying below a recent Department of Defense News Agency article featuring this web site. MilitaryConnection.com is a comprehensive military directory of resources and information (over 800 pages) covering all of the military service branches, the Reserves, National Guard and Veterans.

There is something for everyone. We provide many resources for transitioning military and retired who are seeking excellent civilian jobs. Our Directory of Employers features over 7500 top companies and their links. We have a Virtual Job Fair as well as maintaining databases of live job fairs throughout the country. There are databases of everything from commissaries and exchanges worldwide with free coupons to tax boards and online yellow pages. We also are very proud of our Charity Connection enabling our clients to make direct donations to worthy organizations and most of them are military non-profits.

Please help us get out the word so that those who will benefit the most from the many resources on this web site will know about it. All of these resources are free to users. We hope you check it out and also read the DoD article below. Thank you very much for your consideration.

Regards,
Debbie

Debbie Gregory, President
Military Connection
(A division of Gregory Media, Inc.)
(800)-817-3777 or (805) 306-0580 x124
Fax: (805) 306-0539 or (805) 306-0576
debbieg@militaryconnection.com

America Supports You: Web Site Shows Troops, Families the Goods

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21, 2006 – A new Web site featuring resources for military families hopes to become a one-stop information source for job seekers, coupon hunters and charity backers.

Debbie Gregory, president of Military Connection.com, poses next to a screen shot of her new Web site, MilitaryConnection.com, an information resource for servicemembers and their families, launched Jan. 27.

"I saw that this is an audience that is online a lot. I saw that there were a lot of resources that weren't available to them, and I wanted to do more than just recruitment advertising," she said. "All the databases are free for their use. ... We're not really selling anything."

The site contains several useful features to support the military's unique needs, Gregory said. Links to hospitals, schools, news, state tax boards, yellow pages, a military pay calculator and a "virtual mall," she hopes, will help military families make smoother transitions between duty stations. The site also provides options for help on resumes and advice for what to do at a job interview.

Coupon providers have space on the site, as well, with links to places where families can print out the coupons they need and take them to their local commissaries and exchanges, she said.

The site's home page prominently displays the banner for "America Supports You," a Defense Department program aimed at facilitating grassroots and corporate support of American troops and their families. Gregory said she has been working with several America Supports You member organizations (including CinCHouse, Operation Homefront, Fisher House and Toys for Tots), sharing expertise on how best to serve the military community.

"We talked to military family groups, and this is what they told us they wanted," Gregory said. "Military (families) move a lot, and we've learned so much in working with these organizations. ... When you look at somebody's resume and they've moved a lot, some people don't understand that it wasn't a choice and that they're outstanding candidates."

Gregory said her earlier career placing military people in civilian jobs showed her some big changes in the job market's attitude over the past decade.

"It has gone full circle now," she said. "When I started out in executive search, corporate America wasn't so in tune with how excellent military candidates are. I think today, they're cognizant of it."

Beyond a simple source of advice, Gregory said she hopes her site will become a hub for job seekers looking for companies, and vice versa. In its "virtual job fair," the site contains links to defense contractors, law enforcement agencies, health care companies and others.

Gregory and her group are working on a section featuring restaurant chains, retail chains and insurance companies.

MilitaryConnection.com makes money by selling ads to companies who seek a military audience, many of whom are looking to hire ex-servicemembers. Some of those companies pay to be part of the "featured jobs" section so military members can have access to companies looking specifically for them.

"We're not charging a placement fee or anything like that," she said. "What we're trying to do is put these ads in front of them and connect them."

Gregory said she also hopes to connect the companies that sponsor her site with charities that help servicemembers. She said she provides incentives to help that process along, offering discounts to the sponsors and giving them an opportunity to donate directly to the military-friendly charities featured on her site.

"We can't make them give (the discount) to the charity, but we certainly encourage them, and we put the charities front and center on the site," she said. "If we're a company that works with military, we should be supporting military. And maybe we can lead by example so that our clients might become involved."

The site offers companies the direct donation opportunity for two reasons, Gregory said. She wants no one to doubt whether their money goes where they want it to go, and she sees the value in providing a direct relationship between people supporting the troops, allowing them to interact however they see fit.

"If they wanted to give more, it facilitates that, rather than us being involved in the middle," she said. "That's not our business."

While there is much more to add, already keeping the site on the cutting edge has proven "a challenge," Gregory said, but she believes in her mission wholeheartedly.

"It's a win-win. It's a win for the corporations that advertise because the military candidates are wonderful ... and it's a win-win for the military audience," she said. And it's a win for the charities. If every time we generate income and a little bit can go to them, that's great."

Related Sites:
MilitaryConnection.com
America Supports You