Tough fight on both sides

After serving a year in Iraq, Army Spc. Michael Osborne, 24, was on a plane Tuesday night headed to Texas and his waiting family.

Earlier in the day his wife, Erica, had wrapped a yellow ribbon around a tree in their frontyard and hung a homemade red-white-and-blue welcome-home banner from the garage door. “We Love U,” it read.

“I support my husband, and I’m proud of what he and the troops do,” she said. “But I don’t know why we’re still in Iraq, and I hope the Democrats can change things.

“I think if I had a chance to ask George Bush, I still wouldn’t know, because he’s never given a straight answer,” she said.

A year ago, few in this conservative military town would have openly criticized the war. This is the home of Ft. Hood, the only Army post in the United States that supports two full armored divisions. Nearly everyone here is connected in some way to the military. Even so, Erica Osborne said, as the fighting continues, “more and more of the [military] wives I know think like I do.”

But Army Sgt. 1st Class Connell Richardson, home after his third tour of duty in Iraq, said he hoped American voters believed, as he did, that the U.S. should remain in Iraq “for as long as it takes.”

“I know we’re making progress,” said Richardson, 36. “I can see it in the reconstruction of schools and buildings, of young people who have hope for their future.”

No matter which party prevails on election night, he added, “we should finish what we started out to do. We’re not known for leaving a job undone. It’s not just me. A lot of us who have seen it firsthand feel that way.”

Army Lt. Amie DeJesus, 30, agreed as she left the voting booth Tuesday: “All I can say is, I trust my president and his judgment. I trust his calls.”

At a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Killeen, Vietnam veteran Wilford Hills, 68, said soldiers weren’t paid to question authority. But, he said, “to me, this looks like Vietnam all over again.”

“Back then and now, we’re fighting for freedom of people. But after all the deaths, I’m still trying to figure out what we accomplished. I’m confused now more than ever,” he said.

On Tuesday, Hills said, he voted the straight Democratic ticket, as he usually does. But this year it was with real conviction, Hills said. “I think it’s time for a change.... But whatever happens, let the votes speak for themselves.”

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lianne.hart@latimes.com