U.S. TROOPS FAIL TO BOOST HUNGARIAN TOWN'S COFFERS.

Byline: Jane Perlez The New York Times

The prospect of thousands of U.S. soldiers setting up base camp in this tiny village that does not rate a dot on most maps sent dizzying visions through many minds. On one hand there were dreams of instant wealth from the world's richest army; on the other, worries about a dive in moral standards as free-wheeling GIs behaved as depicted in Hollywood movies.

Now, after the town has served as the logistical base for the U.S. military operations in Bosnia for nearly a year, neither the fantasies nor the fears of Taszar's residents have materialized.

The few unemployed - estimated at 20 of a total population of 2,400 - have been employed. Some restaurants with an American flavor, like Top Gun and Country Pub, hastily established in the nearby provincial capital of Kaposvar, have cashed in.

But instead of buying tens of millions of dollars' worth of Hungarian food, as some Hungarians expected, the U.S. Army has maintained its own supply lines. Almost everything from eggs to Coca-Cola has been flown in. Eager construction companies soon learned that the American Army imports its own.

As for the wild side, some locals wish they had seen it. The 4,000 U.S. soldiers are mostly cooped up inside the camp where a gym, movies, pizza parlor and beer tent have been set up. Rules that were intended to ensure that U.S. soldiers are safe, but which sound like prudish edicts from the Victorian era, prevent soldiers from leaving the camp without special permission.

To accept a dinner invitation from a Hungarian family in a house one block away, U.S. soldiers must make a request to the Army's ``force-protection unit.''

To drive seven miles to Kaposvar to go to a restaurant, soldiers must travel in groups of no fewer than 10, organized by the ``morale, welfare and recreation unit.'' The drinking rule states that soldiers can drink in the camp's beer tent but not beyond the camp's perimeters.

But while would-be entrepreneurs are disappointed, Taszar's mayor, Jozsef Kovacs, who is also the village doctor, says he thinks the right balance has been struck.

``People were afraid of AIDS, prostitutes and gang violence,'' said Kovacs. ``But we have learned that the American soldiers are civilized and well-behaved people.''

The U.S. operations are centered on a Hungarian military airfield that was established by the Soviet Union in the 1950s after Tito led Yugoslavia out of the Warsaw Pact.

It is the first U.S. base established in a former Warsaw Pact country, and the signs of East-meets-West are small but telling. The American flag that hangs from a temporary office set up in the middle of the village flutters over a white statue of Yuri Gagarin, the first Soviet astronaut. The postcards of fighter jets decorating a nearby sandwich stand are of Soviet-made MIG-29s.

With President Clinton's announcement that the United States will keep a reduced military presence in Bosnia next year, the Taszar base will remain but will also be scaled down, U.S. officials said.

The U.S. presence was embraced by the Hungarian government as a way of showing its eagerness and ability to join NATO. But while substantial good will has been generated by the American soldiers, doubts linger among Hungarians about the wisdom of joining NATO.

In September a Gallup poll found that 47 percent were in favor, with 29 percent against and 24 percent undecided, a far higher degree of ambivalence than in Poland, another former Warsaw Pact member considering NATO membership.

Those uncertainties are reflected around Taszar and Kaposvar.

``The American soldiers are involved in peacekeeping; they're different from the Russian soldiers we used to have,'' said Sandor Reczey, a lawyer in Kaposvar. ``But what benefit would Hungary have from NATO? You need the military when we have war. And we don't want war; we want peace.''