The main concern I would have is lack of local support. As someone stated earlier, if the thing goes down, you are pretty much SOL unless you want to ship it somewhere. In any case, it is not too difficult to build an AEG that is similarly reliable, but at one third or one fourth the cost.

Hey guys!

Long time, no see! I just wanted to let everyone know that I am still alive (as if someone cared, right   ), and let you all know of the progress of Defender's Own. We are still pursuing the project full force, as the response has been nearly universally positive. Currently, we have over 550 members on the BETA test version of the website, as well as 5000+ friends on MySpace. We are also working very closely with members of the Army OCPA to keep Defender's Own accessible on government computers. We are also forming relationships with military support organizations, such as the Soldier's Angels (we are about to become their official Internet communication platform) as well as AZ Operation Military Kids, and the Blue Star Moms of AZ. As you can imagine, the response that we have gotten has been very exciting to this point. I have been pretty much absent from this community due to extreme efforts being devoted to our website. However, I hope to be back in the near future as the weather cools and my time becomes more free.

Anyway, I just wanted to post that update because a couple of you asked me to keep you updated on the progress of the website. Lastly, if you are a part of the military community (active duty, veteran, military family member, or recruit), and you have not yet registered, we would really appreciate it if you would! <shameless plug>Just head over to www.defendersown.com and click on the Join Now link!</shameless plug>

I hope to be seeing you guys at an event in the near future, take care,
Shane

Attention everyone!

I just wanted to make you all aware of an event that we are hosting in conjunction with Operation: Military Kids and AZ on the Rocks indoor rock climbing gym. On Friday, August 29, from 3pm-10pm, members of the military community (active duty soldiers, reservists, veterans, military family members, and recruits) will be offered free climbing gear rental, and will be treated to a potluck dinner at the inaugural Military Appreciation Day at AZ on the Rocks. So, if you are interested in getting a great workout, spending time with other military affiliated folks, and supporting our initiative, please head over to http://www.defendersown.com to register and get the full scoop. Our founding team will be out there to answer any questions that you might have about the site as well. Hurry, the registration deadline is Thursday, August 28!

Also, I wanted to make you all aware that Defender's Own will be at the American Legion national convention exhibit hall from August 22-26! We will be in booth #508, so if you are going to be there, drop by and say hello!

Thanks,
Shane

Today we unlocked the site for everyone. If everyone who visited the first time would do us a solid and go back to http://www.defendersown.com/community and really check the site out, we would really appreciate it.

Thanks,
Shane

Oh, and if anyone knows anyone who is stationed at the National Guard Armory at 52nd and McDowell, I would really appreciate a PM.

I'll take ACU.

Sounds redundant. Are you in the Army by any chance? I'm pretty sure that any person, college student or not, will use google to search for "Airsoft in Arizona", instead of looking on "Facebook" for airsofting in arizona. After all, google is a search engine.

Although Google is the search engine du jour, there is going to be a major shake up in the search market in the next 5 years. The overwhelming popularity of social networks with their vast user networks of consumers who buy goods every day will soon give rise to social search engines, where people will be able to use Facebook as Google in order to gain personal knowledge of the products and services that they are interested in buying. I mean, it kind of makes sense in that if you were going to search for a product, wouldn't you rather have it recommended by someone you know than by some machine? If you know any computer science gurus, now is the time to start working on this because experts have speculated that the idea of a social search engine is why Facebook got such a huge valuation from Microsoft. (15 billion)

That said, it is kind of redundant at this point, but it's free; so why not?

When I say military family, I mean all members of the military community (like communicating with military buddies, your own family, etc). I was trying to capture what I perceive as the essence of the military, and that is a very brotherly, family like relationship. Shall I make that more clear within the survey?

Ultimately what we are trying to do is make a one stop shop for the military to communicate among all of their contacts. You mentioned that you usually opt to use email and cell phone to communicate with family and friends, while you use other methods to communicate with military buddies. We would like to make it possible for all members of the military community to communicate on one platform that is both free and convenient, with features like voice and video chat, photo upload, and a message board.

Over rated? Ouch, I consider a team that beats the Jags and Charges in playoffs to be good, regardless of who they played in the season. Both those teams boast good defenses. Like or hate the Patriots, dont take away what they have done.

I'll give you the Jaguars, however, the Chargers were missing their number one player in LT, and their number two and three players (Rivers and Gates) were both playing injured. I can only assume that of the four times the Chargers scored that three, maybe all four, would have been for touchdowns if Tomlinson was playing. Believe me, I am not taking away what they did, but there was a profound shift in their game over the past two months which led to near losses in the regular season, in particular. I mean, it was only a matter of time before someone came up with the right mix of offense, defense, special teams, and luck in order to knock them off their high horse.