Oceans away, US troops crave approval at home

Pvt. Mario Rodriguez has advanced to within a few miles of Baghdad in recent days. But even as the 3rd Infantry soldier pushes ahead with his mission in Iraq, he worries about what he will face back home.

"In Colorado, in my town, people are protesting the war, so I'm stuck," says the young private. "Are people going to thank [me] ... or are they going to look down on me?"

Across the battlefield in Iraq, US troops are asking the same question: What do Americans think of the war?

Soldiers for generations have sought public approval for executing a war, with sensitivities reaching new heights during the Vietnam conflict and its anguished aftermath. Today, the intense public scrutiny of the war in Iraq, combined with vocal domestic and international criticism, has some troops wondering if all the risks and toil may earn them only scorn.

"I've seen these kids busting their humps. I don't want us to get involved in another Vietnam. I want us to be involved in a good cause not a stupid one," says Staff Sgt. Timothy Roberts of the 3rd Infantry Division's 1-3 Air Defense Artillery Battalion.

"Everyone remembers or sees news clips of soldiers returning from Vietnam, and some of those images still linger," agrees Capt. Will Griffin, of the 3rd Infantry Division support command. "We look for validation of what we do," he says. "We want to know what the public thinks."

But finding out what Americans think isn't easy in the remote encampments of Iraq.

Largely isolated from the world beyond the Army, the soldiers snatch at tidbits of news, read between the lines of the rare letter or call home, and pick up rumors and hearsay.

The fact is that recent polls, including a new Christian Science Monitor/TIPP poll conducted this past weekend, show Americans supporting the war by a 7-to-3 margin. But, looking for signs of assurance, troops here in Iraq are often getting mixed signals instead.

Some take their cues from pop stars. "I heard Madonna was protesting the war, making a CD, and all these people are buying it," says Rodriguez. His tent comrades nod. Also circulating among the troops is a letter from country singer Charlie Daniels lambasting what he calls the "Hollywood bunch," including actress Barbra Streisand, for leading antiwar protests.

An infantryman guarding a US Patriot missile battery south of Baghdad said that he believes even if the public is against the war, it will back US troops. "My wife went to a prowar rally in Centennial Park in Atlanta, and 25,000 showed up," says Capt. Stephen Norgard of the 3rd battalion 1-24 infantry, a Florida National Guard unit. "And I truly believe that if people don't agree with the war, they support the soldiers who are fighting it," says Captain Norgard after stopping two suspicious Iraqi vehicles at gunpoint.

"My mom has reassured me in letters," says 1st Lieut. Jeff Brizek of the 3rd Infantry Division's 123rd Signal Battalion. "She says, 'Yes, there are a lot of protests, but I'm all behind you.' That makes me think, wow, there must be big protests."

As he cleans his face with baby wipes one morning, Lieutenant Brizek of Reading, Pa., says he worries about "going into a war that doesn't have a lot of meaning."

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