Crew chief's hobby is helping

Published June 17, 2011
By Tech. Sgt. Emily F. Alley
451st AEW Public Affairs

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- During the day, Staff Sergeant Steven J. Crawford is an aircraft mechanic here with the 451st Air Expeditionary Wing, but a glance at his business card informs that he is also a CEO. He created and manages the website AORads.com as a free service for deployed military members in the area of responsibility around the Middle East.

During 2008 he was deployed to Joint Base Balad, Iraq. He had been looking for a television and thought about walking across the base to different boards papered with advertisements from deployers selling, or simply giving away things before they returned home. Things like televisions, bicycles and workout equipment may be nice to have during a deployment, but they may be impractical to mail home, or squeeze into a duffel bag.

Senior Airman Chance Cole, also an aircraft mechanic with the 451st AEW, said that he was impressed with the convenience of the website and had quick responses when he posted items.

Crawford designed the website AORads to be an easier option for rotations of deployers to list things they were looking to buy, sell or simply give away. He compares it to Craigslist, but originally intended it to be localized to Balad.

"Mine is specific to the men and women in the AOR," he said. "In 2008, it kicked off like wildfire."

When he deployed to Kandahar Airfield, earlier in 2011, he expanded the website to all the bases in the AOR. Anyone can register a profile, but it must be confirmed by an email address. If a user posts inappropriate ads they may be banned. Just like in 2008, however, he still does not take paid advertisements on the website and funds the project himself.

"It's absolutely not something I would try to make a profit from," said Crawford. "Really, I just hope to see it used."

While most of the ads he's seen have been legitimate, some are posted as jokes. Someone, for example, advertised selling water bottles, which are available for free by the pallet at KAF. Crawford monitors the website and may delete censurable ads.

One of the more surprising ads was for a pet cat.

"I didn't take it down because, I thought, the cat might need a home," he said.

Since 2008 he kept the website running and made a few stylistic changes. He also added a chat feature. The design evolved as he got more experience.

"I'm always looking for creative ideas, suggestions," said Crawford.

He briefly studied programming in school, but built on the experience as a hobby. He designs games for fun and plans to eventually release one as a free cell phone application that he's been developing. If it is successful, he may consider charging for it.

AORads, however, will still be free