To bolster troops: ribbons, rallies, and pink slippers

And it wouldn't be America if there weren't commercial options. One website offers a "Code Red" care package - complete with microwave popcorn, patriotic jelly beans, and ramen noodles - for $32.

All these efforts come as the debate over war continues, more pronounced than during the first Gulf War. In a recent CBS-New York Times poll, 93 percent of Republicans approved of President Bush's handling of Iraq, while just 50 percent of Democrats did. At an equivalent point in the first Gulf War, 94 percent of Republicans and 81 percent of Democrats backed the war.

But Harpin is as determined as ever to make the troops feel supported. Her operation is called The Ships Project (www.wtv-zone.com/kjsb/ bataan.html) because it started out sending knitted items to sailors. Now it sends them to all kinds of troops. And just since the war started, she's added 100 new volunteer coordinators, bringing her nationwide total to 780.

These field commanders scour their hometowns for individuals and groups willing to knit. All the items are then sent to Harpin in Goldenrod., Fla., usually with money to cover mailing costs included.

Sometimes the post office sends a special truck to Harpin's apartment. The 2,000 or so packages that arrive each week stack up in her living room so fast she has considered buying a new house for more space. She inspects them all, repackages them, and ships them overseas.

But sending care packages is complicated in the post-9/11 world. "During Desert Storm we'd send cookies addressed to 'Any Service Member' and know they'd get to somebody," says Harpin, a red-headed former investigative reporter. Now they'd be seen as a security risk "and probably blown up." The military has banned use of generic addresses.

There are also restrictions on what can be sent: No marshmallows, for instance, because they're made from pork products, which are taboo in some Muslim countries.

And sometimes her knitters miss the mark, like the time Harpin got a three-foot long pair of pink slippers with purple ruffles. (She now encourages knitters not to use pink or other "girlie" colors.) After she sent word that the 82nd Airborne wanted camouflaged hats, she got florescent-orange ones - used by hunters, but not soldiers. Still, she says, "these volunteers are amazing."

One of her more productive teams is a group of 20 or so women at the senior citizens center in Saugus, Mass. Sitting at a round table on a recent weekday, some of them talk about the project.

"It keeps us out of mischief," says Virginia Mogavero, a retired newspaper-ad saleswoman.

"It keeps me out of the refrigerator," adds Sylvia Mishel, a retired welder.

But there's clearly a more serious side. Janet Blanchard lived near London in World War II - and remembers the horrors of the Nazi blitzkrieg. "When I see these boys overseas," she says, working her needles with expert speed, "I just remember how terrible war is, how terrible it really is."

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