If your recruits aren't good enough for you, well, here's where Portable Ops starts to go all Pokemon. Using an ad-hoc or infrastructure connection, you can hook up with other players and trade your comrades for theirs, pit them against each other in deathmatches or even scan wireless networks to create random characters. You can even send a squad out to roam the Internet and capture soldiers who've been sent out to do the same.
As for the multiplayer itself, up to six players can compete in deathmatches, Capture matches (won by the player who holds onto a croaking frog the longest) or team-based versions of either. You can use any of the characters, weapons and gadgets you've collected, but be forewarned - if you choose the Real Battle option, you'll lose them for good once they're killed. Of course, if you win, you'll recruit your opponents' "dead" troops, so it can be worth the risk.