HOME IS WHERE SUPPORT, HEART IS KEEPING TROOPS IN MIND, E-MAIL, TREATS.

Byline: Rachel Uranga Staff Writer

The day the Iraq War broke out, Sharon Ventrice swore she would not let it turn into a repeat of Vietnam, when those who fought bravely received little support from the home front and returned to bitter taunts or, even worse, no recognition at all.

Ventrice began a personal crusade, working with a friend to support the men and women serving in Iraq - to ensure those in uniform would know they weren't forgotten.

Now, on the third anniversary of the U.S. invasion, Ventrice is still seeking soldiers' names from everyone she meets, still writing to men and women overseas aching to come home.

``They need a morale boost, they need the mail, the need to know we care about them,'' said Ventrice, a 58-year-old retired teacher's assistant from Valencia. ``We want to make sure they get positive reinforcement.''

Ventrice is among the countless volunteers who have made it their mission to keep up the spirit of those serving overseas.

The U.S. Department of Defense says more than 200 nonprofits have formed to send letters and care packages to U.S. troops and raise money for wounded soldiers. Overwhelmed by the outpouring of support, the department last year allocated $1.5 million to create a clearinghouse for the groups.

``It's different than anything our country has required,'' said Allison Barber, a spokeswoman for America Supports You, the clearinghouse run by an arm of the Department of Defense's public relations. ``There are military members that fall through the cracks and they augment those services.''

Experts say, too, the military is using the volunteer groups to help put a positive spin on the war, which polls show is becoming increasingly unpopular.

``A lot of people in the DOD think that the main way they can lose the war is lack of support,'' said Michael O'Hanlon, an expert on defense strategy at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C. ``I think to hear (from these people) is nice at a personal level but reassuring at a political level.''

But most volunteers say they aren't driven by the politics, but by their concern for the troops. Working out of living rooms and church halls and through online chat rooms, they have mustered money, merchandise and support for a booming grass-roots effort.

``When I first started, I thought this would be over and done with in a few months,'' said Carolyn Blashek, who founded Operation Gratitude out of her Encino home and has seen it grow to 2,000 volunteers who have mailed more than 100,000 care packages.

``My life is absorbed by this. Operation Gratitude is a multimillion-dollar organization.''

The military - in an effort to boost morale - has made it easier for Blashek - herself a military brat - and the family of soldiers to talk to them while in a war zone. The Department of Defense has poured resources into ensuring soldiers have Internet access in the deserts of Iraq.

Blashek now spends hours each week e-mailing soldiers and Marines she's never met.

A former attorney who tried to enlist after the 9-11 terrorist attacks, Blashek was working at the Bob Hope USO facility near LAX when she met a soldier about to be sent to Iraq. The man's mother had died, his wife had left him, and he was headed off to battle with no support from home.

``He told me, 'For the first time in my career, I don't think I will make it back but it really won't matter because I don't think anyone will care.'

``I was shaken up,'' Blashek said. ``Devastated.''

So, she started to network and like others who have founded groups, she became obsessed.

``The citizenry has always come to the aid of the military since the revolutionary times,'' said John Melia, founder of the Wounded Warrior Project, which has provided financial or emotional support for 10,000 casualties. ``Look, my sergeant major never called me after I got out of the service and asked me how I was doing, if I got a job. I think that is where the need lies.''

Most volunteers dread a repeat of Vietnam where troops returned demoralized to families that didn't understand them.

``We want them to know that we care about them regardless of how we feel about the war,'' said Ventrice, who graduated from high school in 1965, as opposition to Vietnam was building. Her husband fought in that war and was among those who faced indifference, even hostility, when they returned.

``I watched an awful lot of guys come back and saw them spit on and the flag burning and the war marches. The country was being torn apart. And when the guys came back, they felt it was their fault. Our main thing is to make sure the guys and gals don't feel like they are at fault one way or the other.''

The hearty, gray-haired advocate founded the Santa Clarita-based Prayer Angels for the Military on the idea that the troops needed to know people, besides their parents and spouses, backed them.

The Angels a group of about 20, mostly women, strictly avoid politics as they sit around a dining room table covered in an American flag, stamping holiday cards to send to the troops.

Instead, the Angels - some mothers and wives of military men - speak about husbands returning, about the silences in conversations from returning soldiers about the fear and pain that goes along with having a loved one deployed. All the while, they piece together packages of chocolates, holiday cards and other creature comforts out of reach in a war zone.

``We have been there for each other,'' said Phyllis Casper, whose son and husband had both been deployed to Iraq. ``I didn't realize how much I had gone through until I found them. I realized how heart-breaking it was, but they have been there.''

Casper, whose husband is a reservist, said the Marines' family support groups often didn't reach her, since she is not near a base. So, the Angels - who say a prayer before each meeting - have become her support group.

With their informal network of family and friends, the Angels compile long lists of troops, and send packages of candy and toiletries to them. They share tales about the sting war has left on them and those returning home.

Casper's son was shot in the leg. Other members quietly listen to family members who struggle to recall days in battle and fight for peaceful nights. Barbie Aston one of the founding members said the group was a godsend for her family.

Her son, Matt, a 25-year-old military policeman who returned from battle last year, said from the eyes of nonmilitary, those fighting the war are too often mistaken to be for war. And that idea, he said, weighs heavily on soldiers and Marines who themselves can grapple with the ethics of war.

``We are out there, some because we want to others because we are told. It's our job. We chose to do that and at the same time this is not where we want to be,'' Aston said. ``These people remind us that they hope us we come home soon. It lifts our spirits. After a day dodging bullets it's nice to a letter on your bed. It's nice to see a package.''

Rachel Uranga, [phone]

rachel.uranga(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Diane McCoy of Newhall assembles a Father's Day card she designed, that will be among those shipped to U.S. military personnel overseas by Prayer Angels for the Military.

(2) Cherie Province of Stevenson Ranch joins in a prayer during a meeting of the group Prayer Angels for the Military. Most volunteers dread a repeat of the way many soldiers returning from Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s were treated at home.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer