Olive-Drab.com has been recognized by Juggle as one of the top military resource sites on the web. Below you'll find an interview with Chuck Chriss, Editor of Olive-Drab.com
What inspired you to create Olive-Drab.com and how did you go about bringing the site to life?
The origin of Olive-Drab.com is rooted in questions I got from people who saw me with one of my military vehicles. I have restored jeeps and trucks and whenever I would be out with one it would draw a crowd.
They always had the same questions: Is it legal? Where did you get it? Can I buy one?
I thought about writing a book on the topic, but at about that time the Internet and Web were growing rapidly and I realized this was ideal for a website. So Olive-Drab.com was born in 1998 with an original focus on military vehicles.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome in managing Olive-Drab, and how did you surmount it?
The military is a vast topic with many aspects. It is often hard to choose which ones to include and exclude. My objective is to keep the quality of the information and accompanying photos as high as possible, so of all the possible topics at any time I have to narrow it down to the ones where the available information meets the quality standard. Of those, the one most likely to be popular will go next. This is a never ending project since new topics come up faster than they can be implemented. As Olive-Drab.com grew, I had to keep the overall plan consistent so everyting fits in smoothly and is navigable for users.
From what sources have you drawn in aggregating all of the military information and photos found on your site?
The primary sources are original military publications augmented with the vast archives of the U.S. Government. Olive-Drab.com has accumulated a big collection of historic material, started with my own collection of field and technical manuals going back to WW II. Added to that are both on-line and purchased materials (manuals, books, photo collections, etc.) from U.S. Government sources as well as private photos contributed by Olive-Drab.com visitors.
Of the numerous topics your site covers (historical information on wars, weapons, vehicles, etc.), which one interests you the most and why?
As stated above, Olive-Drab.com started with my personal interest and experience in Military Vehicles. MVs are still the largest section of Olive-Drab.com with the most technical depth. But everything is connected in some way and it made sense to expand the other sections, first with supplementary material related to vehicles (eg, tactical ambulances) and later into full sections that stand on their own (eg, Military Medicine).
How would you describe your site's typical user? Do the majority have a background in the military?
I am not sure there is a typical user. They all are interested in the information, either looking up the answer for a particular query or just browsing to learn more. Some come and go, but I have heard from users who say they spend time every day. One woman said she gave the Olive-Drab.com link to her husband and he was glued to the computer for days after.
Many do have military connections, as veterans, family of veterans, or currently in the military. I get requests from U.S. military sources for information they need for a project and often have to send them something created by another department of their own organization (.mil to .mil). Other visitors are interested in historical information relating to the military service of someone in their family. Still others are just interested, not for any discernible reason.
What's the most interesting feedback you've received from a site visitor? The most rewarding?
Interesting feedback comes from people who want to correct the record. Often I get email from someone who was "there" and wants me to know that what they read on Olive-Drab.com is wrong. "You say that tank was first fielded in '65 but I was there and we had them in '64." I assume they are right and this stimulates me to further research the topic to see what I can find to nail it down.
The most rewarding feedback comes from the families of veterans who are delighted to find connections to their father, grandfather or other relative. It is fundamental to Olive-Drab.com that military service is appreciated and honored so to find that someone is being helped in this way is just great. I am speaking of things like hooking people up with a Unit Association where they can contact people who know their relative. Or providing a photo of a unit shoulder patch worn in WW II so the family can make a cake with that patch on it for an 85th birthday. What could be more rewarding?
What section of the site has been the most popular? Which has resulted in the most feedback?
Because of its depth, the military vehicles section continues to be most popular. Runner-ups would be the firearms sections and the uniforms/individual equipment. The feedback follows the same pattern.
Do you have any plans to expand your site’s content in the near future?
Plans include to continue to expand the coverage as time allows. Make existing topics better and add new sections to broaden the site. The focus will continue to be the modern U.S. military (generally WW II forward) but there is still a lot to do.
What do you think Olive-Drab will look like in 5 years?
I don't think Olive-Drab.com will change fundamentally since it fulfills its purpose in its current form. However, technology marches on so a refresh will probably be necessary at some point to maintain compatibility with advances in hardware and software. More video will come in as well as interactive features if they add something.
Is there anything else you would like to tell us about Olive-Drab?
Olive-Drab.com is a specialized encyclopedia of military information. In addition to the detailed information and images within each topic, internal linking is used to show the topic relationships along with external linking to provide suggestions of where to go even further. Olive-Drab.com is supported by advertising so there is no charge for any of the information pages.
Although there are many other military sites, there are few with both the breadth of topics and depth of information within the topic. Currently serving about 3/4 of a million pages a month, Olive-Drab.com is also one of the most popular sites in its category.