I am trying to find some members of my military unit in Vietnam. Does anyone have a suggestion regarding the best search engine(s) to use? I prefer a free service because I am looking for about 60 guys. Thanks.
Finding peope on the internet - help needed
- Thread starter Dtrigg
- Start date
I've had good luck with www.zabasearch.com It will pull up a lot of names and previous information that you will need to sift through.
doug,
i typically use zabasearch, too, but i also just googled my old unit (in quotes) and found many links to a variety of sources. interestingly enough, i've also found videos of several areas / era's i was involved in on youtube, again, googling the unit / base, etc.
hope this helps.
hal
Zabasearch here also. If your friends have common first and last names, then you may need to know their middle name or city & state. Good luck on your search Doug.
Thanks guys. I've been using zabasearch.com and that is a lot of work. I think I found two people today. Believe it or not, but I am getting the names of these guys from awards I recieved. An Air Medal for example might have 20 members of my unit. BUT I also have all of their Social Security numbers. I am a trying to find a web site that will give me access to public records. Everyone I've found chages me $39.95 per name. Those web sites got the information from some where.
Those websites pay HUGE $$$ for that info. Companies like Lexis Nexis purchase it from Experian/Equifax/Transunion, govt agencies like the DMV or agencies that grant licenses such as the state bar, the state medical board, firearms, fishing, hunting, etc. I used to have unlimited access to one of those databases, but it was thousands of $$$ a month and I lost it after my company had a dispute over the bill. It was supposed to be a fixed rate per month and we were billed five figures for one month. So, not really a surprise companies are charging $30 per lookup.
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I suscribed to Lexis Nexus in the past as well. I've seen a number of sites that charge $9.95 for the type of information I am seeking. I am just looking for an address. Many of the web sites are obtaining information from government files which are free. Court information, property tax information, etc. is public information. My problem is if for example I am searching for John B. Smith there could be 500 per state and I would have to search 50 states. I might just go to a private detective, give them the names and Social Security numbers...
I was actually referring to Accurint, which is owned by Lexis/Nexis but isn't part of that service. While court documents may be free, it's not free to compile it all, organize it, stick it in a database, keep it up to date and write a web based front end to search it, not to mention building an engine that can cross reference items and find/track relationships. Plus you're talking about searching via SSN, there is no database I'm aware of that's free that contains SSNs, so for a service that provides SSN search, they had to pay to get that info, then figure out how to link it to other records (public or otherwise). My guess is most of these companies charging $30 are actually just a portal into a company like Accurint and they're probably being charged $5-$10 per lookup.
If I still had access to Accurint, I'd do a search by SSN for you, but unfortunately I no longer do. A PI who has access to this stuff could dig up the latest info via SSN very quickly... but I have no idea if he'd charge a lump sum or per person. I think it would all depend on what he's paying for access to these databases (flat fee or per lookup).
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Thanks Rob. I completely agree with what you're saying and that these organizations have expended funds to obtain the information and continue to pay money to keep the information current, and they deserve to make a profit.
Think I'll contact some PI's and explain what I am attempting to do. I would like to know what happened to the guys I served with in Vietnam. I would think a lot of them may feel the same way. If I get their information, I'll share it with all of them.
My life has taken so many twists and turns after the Army. Makes me curious about them. I am really one of the luckiest guys in the world and hope they have done well.
Frankly I think what you're suggesting could be a good model for a new business. We have things out there like classmates.com and linkedin.com, I wonder how a site like one of these that catered to vets would do. Perhaps the issue would be that it's focusing on a smaller subset of people compared to those who have gone to school or worked a job
.Frankly I think what you're suggesting could be a good model for a new business. We have things out there like classmates.com and linkedin.com, I wonder how a site like one of these that catered to vets would do. Perhaps the issue would be that it's focusing on a smaller subset of people compared to those who have gone to school or worked a job
Well, there are millions of vets...:biggrin:
I realize that, I was just comparing millions of vets to the couple of hundred million that have worked and gone to school. Still, I suspect there's some good potential here, especially for advertising. That's one hell of a demographic for targeted advertising for someone like Sig Sauer for example.
Just looked it up, there are approximately 25m US veterans and another 3m currently serving or in the reserves. Hmmm........
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Ive been looking for someone for years and spent alot of $$$ its all a scam if you ask me. an address thats 5 years old is useless and when you cant get a phone no. thats even more useless. when i can find a site that 100% finds acurate up-to date to the day info I will pay any price. even the phone no has to be correct even if its unlisted
Sarge, nothing will ever be 100% like that. The service I used was updated monthly from the credit bureaus, so if someone has a credit card, whatever phone numbers or address Experian had for example would be what showed up in Accurint. If you EVER give someplace like Citibank Visa your cell phone number, they will sell it and it will eventually appear in this database (though not always marked as a cell phone).
I've gone through lots of them Hal. I was explaining to Rob that most of these boards don't have a search function. So, I post that I am looking for "Joe Blow" and if Joe happens to see it, we have a match. If Joe doesn't happen to belong to that site, no match. I have posted that I am looking for "Members of Company C, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam during 1968 - 1969"
I've posted on 101st boards, MSN forums, Yahoo forums, etc. Again, if "Joe Blow" doesn't subscribe, then he won't see my message. Kind of like a shot in the dark.:frown: I found one site that posts thousands of e-mails of guys looking for buddys. However, I would have to read all of the e-mail to find someone.
gotcha. yup, sounds like a pretty time consuming effort.
Doug, ok this is what i did frist i went to the library, asked for the phone disks for the whole country and fund a lot of my buds .G co 2/7 1st mar div.By the way we are the highest decorated marine corp unit in the entire vietnam war 1968. Also word of mouth worked very will......bill............s/f
Thanks Bill. I've been using white pages on line. I type in a name and do a national search. On some of the searches I'll get two or three hits. It really depends on the names. "Bill Smith" will get me thousands of hits. A "Marvin Alvin Fernandes" with hit a few. (We worked with the 1st Marine Division in I Corps)
Now, That was your lucky day when you went to war with the corp. :biggrin:
:tongue:I have a tentive appointment with a private investigator tomorrow. He said he charges $100 per hour, but also said he would give me a flat rate price. Conversation was something like this:
Me. "I am a Vietnam vet and I want to find former members of my unit. I have their names and Social Security numbers."
Him. "That's easy."
Me. "I have about 50 names."
Him. "That's expensive."
:biggrin: