October 3, 2008 - If voters in swing states think they are inundated with campaign ads, they are unlikely to find refuge in the military.

The Pentagon has a spirited "Get Out the Vote" campaign going for soldiers, sailors and airmen. Whether they are in Iraq, Afghanistan, stateside or in any other foreign post, the troops would have a diffiult time avoiding one of the 40 "Get Out the Vote" television ads being broadcast over the American Forces radio and television network in 177 countries.

The ads also appear on the Pentagon's Defenselink Web site and on the Pentagon Channel, which is broadcast at more than 400 stateside military installations. Overall, the ads are running as often as 140 times a day.

The ads are non-partisan and merely urge members of the military to register and to vote. And some of them do it with a flair.

One now in rotation is a takeoff of Monty Python, with a catapult that slingshots a hapless medieval warrior to the polls. Other ads feature actor and musician Steve Van Zandt, in his trademark bandana and military garb, and yet another features the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"We're airing a lot more ads in the presidential race," said Paul Waldrop, chief of the American Forces Radio and Television production office. "The Department of Defense is apolitical. Our goal just is to get the message out of how important it is to vote."

Voting in the military is not always easy. Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan might be distracted and forget to register or fill out absentee ballots. Those at sea have to plan ahead to make sure their absentee ballots get in on time.

The Federal Voting Assistance Program, has been trying to make it easier for overseas voters - military and civilian - to vote from abroad. It's newly designed Web site www.fvap.gov attempts to make registering and obtaining absentee ballots easier. The site had more than 1.2 million hits a month this summer, compared to 280,000 a month in 2004.

Earlier this month, the Pentagon sponsored an "Armed Forces Vote Week," and "Voting Assistance Officers" are assigned to each military unit to help with the process.

"We started making sure early in the year that they should look to their state's deadlines for registering and voting," Mr. Waldrop said. "It's a bi-partisan effort that says that the election reaches to them and we remind them of the importance of their duty as citizens to vote."