With combat deaths mounting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Guard's traditional recruiters are running into resistance from people increasingly wary of slick sells and star-spangled television ads, Guard officials say. But a soldier talking to a friend, co-worker, or cousin can offer a credible, powerful, and personally tailored message, soldiers say.

"Word of mouth is the holy grail of marketing," Major Winfield S. Danielson III, a spokesman for the Massachusetts National Guard, said yesterday. "It's like when your friend says, 'Hey, that was a really cool movie.' There's a lot of believability in that. You look at it as an unbiased source, or at least biased to what your friend likes or your friend's interests are."

Maybe MemeStreams should go into MLM.