Thread: Hey everyone... please read! Your help is needed!

hahaha I love SPAM, love it...yes a Research facility is actually going into forums and requesting people to do a survey, b/c they dont have the resources to do this, right? oh oh oh an dyou are going to make a donation?? let me jump right on it, NOT...uh uh and your email is @gmail.com instead of the company you work for........mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

No, actually, not spam. And yes, a research facility IS actually going into forums and looking for combat veterans, and yes, we are making a donation for each soldier interviewed. I set up a gmail.com email address because, as anybody knows, it isn't wise to list a company OR personal email address in an internet forum open for anybody to see (that is how you get REAL spam). I understand that people are wary of spammers in internet forums, but I can assure this is NOT a fake, and the research does have the potential to save lives. Do with that what you will.

If they really wanted to do this the right way they would go through the proper channels and not doing some back door crap, this is fake guys, a personal email, I understand him not posting that, but a company email address, thats what they are for, work.

I call BS and just like the many "researchers" that I have encountered in the forums before, this guy will not come back after a little while, why? B/c it was BS.

MPclk2006, I can assure you this is NOT BS, and when you work on contract for DoD, there are no "proper channels." I cannot simply put a company email address out in an internet forum, even if it IS a company email address, because it is still simply a risk to getting put on spammer lists. If anyone would actually like a company email address, you are more than welcome to send me a private message within this forum or email me at my previously listed address, and I can forward you a company address.
daddytattooed, thank you for that quote from army.mil, I will be checking out that article... but there are many other factors that come into play other than equipment and capabilities when our soldiers are in a firefight. We are looking at these other factors, while also taking into account equipment, experience, etc... As my first post states, we are not Army or DoD employees... we are a small company working on contract for DARPA, which is why we are using alternative methods to find soldiers. The military doesn't simply hand out names and phone numbers of soldiers who have seen combat.
If anybody else has questions, please ask away, but I really do urge anybody that has seen combat to contact me... this is legitimate research, and I do strongly feel that it could save some lives in future combat situations.

And Again I urge you to follow the proper channes if this indeed is a legitimate research, if you are so worried about saving lives, if you are working with DOD as a contractor, why dont you go through them to get your personnel to do research...

MPclk2006, "proper channels" isn't all that applicable in this arena... unfortunately. If the DoD did supply us with a list of soldiers who have seen combat, I most definitely would not be poking around in your forum. Working as a contractor for DoD is very different from being an actual employee OF the DoD... essentially they fund you, and then you are on your own until they want to see some results. They don't provide you (at least in our case) with resources such as soldier databases and contact information. Part of the entire approach is a company's "ingenuity," if you want to call it that, when it comes to finding information. This forum approach is one of our ways of finding some soldiers that may have something to share.
And daddytattooed, I believe you are correct that active duty soldiers do have to have permission from superiors before participating in any kind of research or survey. All the interviews that we have done thus far have been with soldiers who have been discharged.

I know how contractors work, been in the Army for a little while and worked with them. If you want to talk to Soldiers, go to your nearest military installation and contact the PAO and the Post Commander and ask for permission, if you are really who you say you are and you are in contract with DOD there shouldnt be much of an issue, if you are fake, you will continue to ask for help in forums/internet.