Finding old friends is a challenging and sometimes slow process. I have tried to compile some links that will help you find an old army buddy, high school friend, or other person of interest.

Obviously, the more information you have at the start the shorter your search will be. Most people live in the same state in which they grew up. If you know that much you are on your way.

Start with online phone directories or any number of free search directories on the internet.  www.about.com http://www.about.com , www.yellowpages.com http://www.yellowpages.com , www.whitepages.com http://www.whitepages.com , www.infobel.com http://www.infobel.com , www.email-directory.com http://www.email-directory.com , just to name a few.

Sometimes despite their best (or worst) intentions folks find themselves in jail. Although it varies from state to state you can search databases from prisons to locate an individual. Try  http://www.ancestorhunt.com/prison_search.htm to search the state prison records.

Going thru some old military records of my own I discovered a set of orders awarding me my old MOS (military occupational specialty). Along with my name and information were the full names and Social Security Numbers of about 20 other folks from my unit who also were awarded their MOS's.  The military wasn't too concerned about privacy back then. If you saved your old papers like I did then I wouldn't be surprized if you have something similar in your old papers.  If you take the SSN and do a SSN validation check you will find out if the number is valid (meaning the person is still alive) or not and what state that person's number was issued.
Google social security number validation and you will find several website that validate ssn's for free. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Social+Security+Number+Validation&btnG=Google+Search

There is a free software program that I use frequently that will help you search for people. It's called "Net Detective" and you can find it at http://www.standard.netdetective.net/index.php . With it you can search for phone and email address, locate neighbors, validate ssn's and a lot more. If you have the money you can subscribe to them for a more in depth search.

Here is a list of some useful links that might help you search.

http://zabasearch.com/
http://www.zillow.com/
http://www.zoominfo.com/
http://www.who-me.com/
http://www.vetfriends.com/
http://library.rider.edu/scholarly/rlackie/Invisible/Inv_Web.html
http://www.switchboard.com/swbd.main/dir/6_0/index.htm?mem=1
http://www.usa-people-search.com/campaign/sp_3/index.html


Note: Identity theft is a serious crime. Never use the information discovered for nefarious means. Anyone busted for identity theft deserves what they get.