The footlockers and most of the equipment were purchased through the military at the soldier’s expense. Many of the soldiers who could afford to spend between $200 and $400 to replace the items sitting in Georgia have already done so.

Soldiers had the footlockers prior to their departure on Jan. 7. They were told to put nonessential stuff in them and they would follow them to Iraq.

Hernandez, visiting her father’s Decatur Avenue apartment, reads one e-mail from her sibling: “Tell everyone thank you. It helps to know that at least we’re appreciated back home, because we don’t feel it from the higher-ups.”

The soldier, who asked to remain nameless for fear of reprisals, currently spends time guarding Iraqi workers at a construction site. Guard soldiers at Tallil are currently on alert.

Both Hernandez and her father, Thomas Rivera, are against the war. “The United States supplies every country, like they supplied Osama bin Laden against the Russians,” Rivera said. “They supplied Hussein against Iran.”

Lt. Col. Paul Manning, an Army National Guard spokesman in Albany, downplayed the snafu. “It was always part of the plan to have this stuff come over around the 12th week, the third month,” he said. “While some of the soldiers are impatient, the plan is not that far off.” Manning said the trunks would be delivered by the second week in May.

“We’re not talking major items here,” Manning said. “They are on the ground and doing their job and doing the mission.”

When told of Manning’s comments, the soldier responded from the front line, “The lack of those footlockers is detrimental to the morale of the soldiers out here.”

Hernandez has vowed a petition drive and letter campaign until the lockers arrive.

A second soldier from the unit, who also asked to remain anonymous, was asked if the lockers held personal or military items. He responded in an Internet chat: “People packed both. That is the problem. Some people mistakenly packed things they needed, National Guard equipment, and they had to buy stuff so they had it when they needed it here.”

“It was the soldiers’ mistake, not the Guard, in that respect,” the solider concluded. “What soldiers do have a right to be upset about is the personal stuff that was packed.”