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DoD approves new social networking Web site

A new social networking Web site has been approved by Pentagon officials to help service members and their families and friends stay in touch.

Families can get their own sites for free, and keep them as long as the sponsor is on active duty. The nonprofit network, Websites for Heroes, is funded by donations from individuals and corporations.

The network is secure, password-protected and requires little bandwidth. Last year, when officials blocked access to some popular social networking sites like MySpace and YouTube on Defense Department computers, they cited the need to guarantee bandwidth availability for mission-critical functions.

Family members who qualify for the free sites include parents and siblings of single troops, as well as spouses, kids and other relatives of married members.

After verifying a service member’s information, the Web site sends out user names and passwords, said Terry Gniffke, chief executive officer of Caliber Media Group and co-founder of the new network.

About 1,300 military families have signed up so far, he said.

Each Web site offers two hours of streaming video, unlimited photo albums, interactive calendars and message boards, kids’ pages, family directories and family history sections.

“When DoD suspended access to social networking sites, we saw this as an opportunity to fill the void,” said retired Cmdr. Rudolph Brewington, director of LIFELines Services Network, the Navy’s quality-of-life Web site. “That’s why we worked closely with Terry to get this approved through DoD’s America Supports You program.”

Gniffke, a former Marine and Vietnam veteran, said the goal is to give families personal, private connections.

While there have been some large sponsors — the computer company Gateway paid for 1,000 families — others have donated $99 for one family for a year, or smaller amounts that are combined. For privacy reasons, donors cannot request that their money go to a specific family. The site does not accept advertising.

Gniffke said he received an e-mail June 18 from a military wife named Nancy who said her family previously had tried to set up a blog, but her husband was not allowed to access it from his remote location.

Their problem was solved through Websites for Heroes.

“This is a wonderful way to share what is going on with the family in spite of the 7,000 miles of separation,” Nancy wrote. “I can’t thank you enough.”

“We get letters like this all the time,” said Gniffke. “This is what keeps us going.”