Citizen soldiers

Military | Enlisted men and women taking the bullets may decide the election with their ballots | Lynn Vincent

During chow-time at a U.S. Army base outside Baghdad, Spc. Amanda Pagac has lately heard the soldiers of B Company, 118th Medical Battalion, tossing around one particular adjective.

"Slime!" they call out between forkfuls of dinner.

It's not the food they're bashing. The epithet—among others, she says—rings out whenever Sen. John Kerry's face appears on the dining facility TV.

The low approval rating isn't merely anecdotal. Two separate surveys of U.S. military personnel, conducted just as soldiers stationed overseas are casting their ballots, show the president leading his challenger by surprising margins. The results are more significant, considering that many of the respondents include those the president has ordered into harm's way.

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October 30, 2004, Vol. 19, No. 42

2004 Election: Countdown Oct. 23, 2004	Terrorism: Unmasked men Oct. 16, 2004	Kerry praying for votes Oct. 9, 2004
Iraq: Terror without end Oct. 2, 2004	Rathergate Sep. 25, 2004	Education: Sick schools Sep. 18, 2004