GIs Pleased by Support From the Home Front : Military: One California soldier says that even the U.S. protests appear to be ‘anti-war but pro-soldier.’

All the talk about peace marches back home had begun to get to Army Specialist Steve Wiersgalla.

Then came the morning when the 21-year-old could pick up a phone and talk to his folks in Minnesota. Their message to him, like that reaching thousands of young soldiers here, was nothing if not reassuring.

“My father told me the silent majority had begun to speak up and put down the protesters,” Wiersgalla said with a grin shortly after the call. “That really made my day.”

Here, deep in the desert with American troops, faintly heard echoes of anti-war protests still stir periodic waves of unease. But many soldiers have found their apprehensions quickly allayed by long-distance calls from a nearby prefab structure that contains dozens of satellite phones.

The link from war zone to living room appears to have eased what could have been a traumatic adjustment to battle. Although some news reports stir fears of public hostility, the troops appear mostly inclined to depend on the more comforting scenes described by parents and spouses.

“In my town, our pictures are hung up in the Wal-Mart,” said Pfc. Kenneth Eversole, 22, of Hyden, Ky.

Added Pvt. Edgar Uriarte, 19, of Garfield, N.J.: “My father told me flags are flying in every town and there are yellow ribbons everywhere. That really made me feel good.”

To be sure, these upbeat assessments have not totally dispelled concerns here that American troops might still face a bitter homecoming.

With newspapers all but absent and radio reception infrequent, the depth of dissent back home can be difficult to gauge. There are flashes of anger from soldiers frustrated by news of mass demonstrations that seem to them a disturbing reprise of the anti-war fervor of the Vietnam era.

“If they’re big enough to protest,” fumed Pfc. Douglas Raybourn, 22, of El Paso, “then they’re big enough to come over here and get shot at.”

Even some of those who recognize that opposition has been limited describe the protests with an increasing sense of betrayal.

“It’s like a put-down because you’re constantly wondering if someone you know is out there in the street protesting,” said Specialist Mick Bostic, 22, of Miami. “We’re here. It’s too late. It’s not like they’re going to stop the war and pull us back now.”

“A lot of us have started to realize only now what the people in Vietnam were bitching about,” added Pfc. Paul Flipse, 22, of Chula Vista, Calif. “They think, ‘What if I made it right through the whole thing and came back to see my family, and then there at the airport are people with signs?’

“It used to seem like the Army was anonymous,” Flipse continued. “Now it’s like everybody has suddenly sat up and paid attention.”

But in dozens of interviews across an Army armored division, soldiers for the most part exuded faith that the nation is behind them. Many said they took particular comfort in hearing from relatives that demonstrators have rarely criticized troops.

“Now that people have talked to home,” Flipse said, “they understand it’s anti-war but pro-soldier.”

In a resuscitation of language from a previous war, soldiers put great stock in the “silent majority.” They cheer news of countermarches, rooting for pro-war activists to shout down the peaceniks. And, after nearly four weeks of war, most seem confident that there remains widespread support for what they describe as a straightforward objective.

“The main reason I feel that I’m here is to kind of show that knucklehead (Iraqi President Saddam Hussein) he can’t be doing that stuff,” said Sgt. Richard Baird, 25, of Rock City Falls, N.Y.

At the same time, a small fraction of the American soldiers deployed here side with the protesters in contending that the United States is out of place.

“I can’t see where this land is worth losing American soldiers over,” mused Sgt. Leonard Neuman, 33, of Beaver Pass, Wis., as he scanned a horizon virtually devoid of life. “It’s just not worth all these casualties.”

“I was born in a war, World War II,” said Chief Warrant Officer Jim Daly, a physician’s assistant who has spent the last 28 years in the Army. “I had family that went to Korea. I went to Vietnam. And now I’m in Saudi Arabia.

“It doesn’t work,” the veteran medic said gently, referring to war.