It may not have the romantic appeal of Paris on the eve of war, but the Internet is now the place for soldiers and Marines in combat to fall in love — through online dating services.

"It always amazes me when I think about how I had to go to Iraq to meet the person I would be with back in the United States," says Jonathan Stoddard, 26, who met Lisa Wagner online while serving as a Marine lieutenant in Anbar province and married her in Fullerton, Calif., on Oct. 26.

Dating services such as Match.com and eHarmony are reporting that numerous service members are finding romance with someone in the United States while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Military members joining eHarmony online dating increased by 56 percent from 2006 to 2008, says Gian Gonzaga, an eHarmony research psychologist. The companies said they do not have statistics on how many of their military personnel are deployed overseas.

Access to military Internet cafes in the war zones, or online links for personal laptops, has allowed troops to e-mail, blog and post to MySpace or Facebook pages.

However, cultivating a romance from half a world away in a combat zone can be dicey.

At first, Lisa Stoddard, 24, a nurse, fretted that Jonathan's online overtures were stoked more by sheer loneliness than true feelings for her, she says. "But through talking to him, I was reassured he was very sincere and genuine," she recalls. Their first get-acquainted chats were over a satellite phone with Jonathan huddled outside — to get the uplink — outfitted in helmet and body armor.

Army Capt. Eric Berard, 38, says online dating was a no-brainer when he deployed to Iraq.

Berard was in Mosul when he was matched — with an 87 percent compatibility rating — to Deborah DeFilippo. They dated online during his 2004-05 deployment and married Nov. 9, 2006.