To hear the news just as suspected supporters of Saddam Hussein's ousted regime begin to ratchet up their attacks against US positions in this and other towns was dampening the spirits of the Americans.

Franks' address to Congress Thursday quashed hopes for a quick exit from the country, as he said the United States would "be involved in Iraq in the future."

"Whether that means two years or four years, I don't know," said Franks, a former head of the US Central Command who led the war that ousted Saddam Hussein in April.

"That kind of sinks morale a little bit," said one young female private who was guarding the US base on the western edge of Ramadi, a town in a Sunni Muslim belt west of Baghdad where violence against coalition troops -- and the Iraqis who work with them -- has flared into a daily danger.

"I don't wanna be out here for that long," she told AFP from her gunner's perch atop an M-113 armoured personnel carrier.

Most of the roughly 150,000 US troops currently in Iraq, engaged in everything from policing to searching for weapons of mass destruction, know their tour of duty will likely stretch between six months and a year.

Captain Michael Calvert stressed that the 1,000 or so troops of the Third Air Cavalry Regiment based around Ramadi were realistic about the length of their tour of duty.

"I think most of us feel this will turn into a long-term operation," he said inside the US base, a converted palace once owned by Saddam.

But since US President George W. Bush declared victory in Iraq on May 1, occupation forces have faced a wave of attacks that have killed 31 American troops and six British soldiers.

Still, Private Andrea Dominique Allen, 18, managed to keep her cool about the surging violence, after only two months in the country.

"Frankly, I don't think I'm as scared as I should be," said the Floridian of the mortars which have barrelled into the Ramadi base on nine of the last 10 days.

When asked if General Franks' assessment was a morale-sapper she turned more somber.

"It is a little bit," she said, "but if I have to stay, I have to stay."

Rumours have raced like wildfire through Allen's unit that they will be rotated out of Iraq by September, but like many coalition troops grappling with keeping the peace in Iraq, she says she has no idea when they're going home.

One of those who has put his civilian life on hold is Captain Mark Alacqua of the Third Infantry Division's Bravo detachment, stationed in nearby Fallujah, another flashpoint town west of Baghdad.

He hasn't seen his kids since January, he said, thumbing through his wallet photos of his two-year-old and one-year-old sons.

The Long Island lawyer called up to active duty from the reserves, and who has since spent five months away from his wife and kids, said he had not expected to be gone from his law practice so long.

"My business partner hates me more than my wife right now," he joked.

Private J.R. Gonzalez, a 24-year-old from Texas serving in Baghdad with the 16th battalion of the First Armored Division, said he misses home but refused to ponder a potential departure date.

"You don't know when you're leaving until you're on the plane."

WAR.WIRE