When Military.com started in 1999, it wasn't clear whether it would survive the rough and tumble dot-com boom in which technology magnates were striving to stake their claim in the new digital frontier.
The website went live in March 2000, and a Wall Street Journal report at that time noted that five military-focused websites were all starting around the same time and "will begin fighting it out for the military audience."
Christopher Michel, Military.com's founder, saw it a little differently.
In an era before widespread social media, Michel, himself a Navy Reserve officer and a Harvard Business School graduate, saw how the military was a small community and one in which people sought connection, advice on how to navigate the bureaucracy, knowledge on how to secure their benefits, and guidance on their careers in the service.
"One weekend, it really hit me like a ton of bricks that the internet would be the perfect way to sort of connect and empower military people," Michel told Military.com in an interview. "The idea would be, there would be lots of social connections. So, all the military units would be groups on the website, we would do news, we would help people get access to their benefits."
As Military.com celebrates its 25th anniversary, the site has survived the burst of the dot-com bubble and outlasted many of its early competitors, producing award-winning watchdog journalism for millions of readers and becoming a go-to resource for detailed information on service member benefits for the community.
In the past few years, the publication has won the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Award for Reporting on National Defense, as well as the Joseph L. Galloway Award and the James Crawley Award from Military Reporters and Editors, collectively the most significant awards for military reporting bestowed annually, along with a slew of other accolades.
It's a reflection of the leading role Military.com has taken in providing news to those in uniform, veterans, and their families. It is the most-read publication focused on the U.S. military and has the largest newsroom.
From the Pentagon to the Front Lines
Bradley Peniston, the executive editor of Defense One and Military.com's first-ever managing editor, told Military.com that those early days were innovative, such as generating a newsletter of stories from all sorts of outlets while still writing original stories for readers.
Peniston said Military.com was the first exclusively online publication ever to receive Pentagon press credentials.
"We just kept showing up to the Pentagon and asked to be let in," he said. "So, finally, they granted us press passes."
But on Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and America was soon at war.
Sarah Blansett, a retired Navy commander and Military.com's publisher who has been with the website for 15 years, said those years following the terrorist attacks really defined the voice of the news organization. The website had purchased numerous other homepages and blogs, some of which had been documenting the experiences of troops on the ground in the Middle East.
"The majority of the life of Military.com has been while our nation was at war," Blansett said. "We were really a good host for a lot of military bloggers very early on in the war. ... That all gelled together to create this personality of Military.com that provided news and benefits information. It spoke directly to the reader through those documenting their experience going to war."
One major moment of that era, Michel recalls, was Military.com breaking the story of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's capture in late 2003. An image of the deposed politician was posted by a user on Military.com, and the site's founder woke up to calls from ABC News asking about the unreleased image.
"They said, 'Is that picture on your homepage of Saddam being captured real?' ... We were the first people to tell that story," Michel recalled. "We were very disruptive to the Department of Defense, in a way. I think that they mostly liked us because they trusted us and they knew that we cared about service members."
Watchdogs at Home
In 2004, Military.com was purchased by Monster Worldwide -- in 2016, Randstad Holding acquired Monster -- and the site continued to grow, helping veterans and service members connect with resources and find jobs, as well as secure their benefits.
As the blogging era of journalism and information began to wane, Military.com worked to consolidate all the various homepages and blogs and bolster its news resources into one website.
Much of that work was done under Amy Bushatz, a military spouse who started working with Military.com in 2010 and became the executive editor from 2018 until 2023 -- a position she "still very proudly” tells people about, she said in an interview.
Bushatz noted that, when she joined the website in 2010, the internet had transitioned from being a novelty to a critical part of life, and the website needed to try and reach readers in constantly evolving terrain.
But she noted that part of what has made Military.com strong throughout all the changes in journalism and the digital world has been its consistency in bringing news and information to service members and veterans, wherever they may be.
"I never questioned that it would have staying power, because it's filling such a need that would not otherwise be filled," Bushatz said. "It really is taking care of something that doesn't exist anywhere else. There is literally nowhere else that you can find the breadth of information that is on Military.com when it comes to these explainers about benefits and how this stuff works. And pair that with the Military.com news coverage and this watchdog journalism."
As service members and veterans began to return home from deployments and tours in the Middle East, Military.com started to provide news coverage and vital resources to those most affected. The website's staff has always included a large number of veterans and military spouses, ensuring that it highlights issues that really matter to the community.
Part of Military.com's focus under current Managing Editor for News Zachary Fryer-Biggs has been a relentless approach to watchdog journalism centered on accountability and original investigative reporting.
"Military.com's mission has always been to serve the military community; that never changed," Fryer-Biggs said. "But as many media outlets have faced relentless cuts leading to fewer questions being asked of military officials, and government agencies have become increasingly hesitant to provide information, we've seen that, to get our readers real answers, we have to dig deeper and work harder. I can't tell you how proud I am of the tireless reporting our journalists do to reveal important issues facing the community."
The website is also evolving to create new ways for readers to engage with its original reporting. Military.com started its "Fire Watch" podcast in 2022, which was recognized as the top podcast in 2023 by the Military Reporters and Editors organization.
Blansett said throughout all of Military.com's history and for the next 25 years and beyond, the site's focus has and will remain the same.
"We will always provide the highest-quality news and benefits information," she said. "That's going to happen no matter what form this website takes, no matter what changes technologically. Those two things will always remain true."
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