Judy Davenport

They say they are not anti-war activists. They are not peace activists. Alex Molnar and Judy Davenport are co-chairmen of the Military Families Support Network. Period. "It is only this war we're against," Davenport says of the war in the Persian Gulf. They oppose what they call an unnecessary military offensive when they believe a diplomatic solution should have--and still can be--found. Their message is simple: "Support the troops. Stop fighting. Start talking."

They say they are not anti-war activists. They are not peace activists. Alex Molnar and Judy Davenport are co-chairmen of the Military Families Support Network. Period. "It is only this war we're against," Davenport says of the war in the Persian Gulf. They oppose what they call an unnecessary military offensive when they believe a diplomatic solution should have--and still can be--found. Their message is simple: "Support the troops. Stop fighting. Start talking."

During the Vietnam War, Bill White flew 136 reconnaissance missions--just a few more than his father-in-law had in World War II. And when his own son and daughter also enlisted, White became the proud patriarch of a third-generation Air Force family. But last month, after his children were sent to the Middle East as part of the U.S. deployment in the Persian Gulf, White became an unlikely anti-war activist.

The Persian Gulf crisis is hardly four months old, but already it has troubled Americans in special ways, making them a people anxious about war--the people in the 4400 block of North Oakland Avenue, for instance, in Shorewood, Wis. There, along a strip of storefront offices, is the Military Families Support network--a group of unlikely foot soldiers in this country's reawakening peace movement. Hardly political radicals, these are solid Middle Americans.