SYRACUSE - Active duty soldiers from Fort Drum will take part in a regional peace rally Saturday, saying it's time for them to be heard.

Organizers expect between 1,000 and 2,000 protesters to gather Saturday in Syracuse for what they describe as the city's largest peace rally since the Vietnam era when Syracuse University was a hotspot of anti-war activism.

“The average soldier is the most credible voice in finding out the truth ... and the most unheard and ignored,” said Eli Wright, a 26-year-old medic from Denver who served in Iraq from September 2003 to September 2004.

Those speaking in opposition to the war will include for the first time active-duty members of the 10th Mountain Division, which currently has two brigades of approximately 7,500 troops in Iraq and has been in the thick of combat since the war on terror began more than four years ago. To date, 93 Fort Drum soldiers have been killed in Iraq.

“The public needs to know what's going on. As far as the day to day operations of what the life of a soldier is, the people need to understand that, they need to know how it personally affects every soldier who has to deploy,” said Wright, a member of the Fort Drum chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

“We want to give active-duty soldiers a voice and let them tell their stories about what's happening in Iraq, and show the world what's going on,” said Phil Aliff, another active duty soldier who is president of the Fort Drum IVAW chapter, which has about two dozen members.

Aliff is among the scheduled speakers Saturday.

Bus loads of anti-war protesters were expected from Albany, Buffalo and New York City, with nearly 60 organizations statewide endorsing the rally, said Rose Viviano, a spokeswoman for the Syracuse Peace Council, one of the rally's organizers.

Viviano said protesters are not only calling for an immediate withdrawal of troops, but also for full health benefits for returning veterans, many coming back with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other psychological problems.

The protesters will rally on the plaza outside the Everson Museum of Art in downtown Syracuse and then march about a mile to the Syracuse University campus for another rally.

The demonstration will conclude in the evening with a panel discussion at Syracuse University's Hendricks Chapel featuring Scott Ritter, a chief United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998 and former Marine Jimmy Massey, a founding member of IVAW and one of the first non-commissioned officers to speak out publicly in opposition to the war in Iraq.

The Army allows soldiers to participate in peace rallies provided they are not in uniform, are off post, off duty and do not represent themselves as speaking on behalf of the Army, said Fort Drum spokesman Ben Abel.

Last month, seven soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division wrote an op-ed letter to the New York Times criticizing the war and how it has been handled.

In a recent interview, Fort Drum commander Maj. Gen. Michael Oates said he was comfortable with - and even encouraged - his soldiers to speak publicly about their opinions, noting that “soldiers don't give up their rights to free speech just because they put on a uniform.”

Oates acknowledged that his troops were “tired, worn out” after repeated extended deployments but said they remained committed to the mission of bringing democracy and stability to Iraq.

“There is no sedition in the ranks,” he said.

However, Wright, who enlisted in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and recently had his tour extended to July 2009, said he has seen troop morale waver as the war has dragged on.

“Almost all the soldiers I talk to are tired, upset, fed up,” he said.

While soldiers have the protection of the Constitution and military regulations, many are reluctant to speak freely because they fear reprisals from their superiors and other soldiers.

“There's always that fear and that's what prevents soldiers from actually getting up and taking a position. But I've come to the realization that my silence is my complicity in this war,” Wright said.

Also, many soldiers don't want to admit, even to themselves, that the war is failing, said Michael Blake, 24, of Binghamton, a former Fort Drum soldier who served in Iraq from April 2003 to March 2004. Blake was discharged as a conscientious objector in February 2005.

“After two or three tours and seeing your friends killed and wounded, the only thing that keeps you going mentally is to justify it in your mind that this was the right thing to do. To admit anything otherwise is admitting your friends died for a lie,” Blake said.