Marines with 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, take cover behind a dirt mound during a patrol through a compound near central Iraq on April 9, 2003. (File/ A Salinas/UPI) | License Photo

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- The Military Times released a poll Sunday showing that 70 percent of active duty U.S. troops are against a ground campaign in Iraq involving American "boots on the ground."

The poll was conducted as a reader survey asking the question: "In your opinion, do you think the U.S. military should send a substantial number of combat troops to Iraq to support the Iraqi security forces?"


Of more than 2,200 active-duty military personnel, 70.1 percent responded "No," while 29.9 percent answered "Yes."

The respondents' reasons were varied.

"It's kind of futile in the end — regardless of how well we do our job, the Iraqi government isn't going to be able to hold up," Marine 2nd Lt. Christopher Fox told the Times, while an unidentified Army infantry officer said, "It's their country, it's their business. I don't think major 'boots on the ground' is the right answer."

"We're burned out," one Navy corpsman from Camp Pendleton, Calif. said. Like many active-duty military personnel, the sailor had done multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan over the years.

An Air Force lieutenant colonel said he could support a campaign featuring the use of U.S. ground troops, but noted that it should only be done at 100 percent:

"If we do it halfheartedly, we shouldn't do it at all," he said, adding that America should expand its military mission in Iraq "only if we're committed to complete victory." "I'm not hearing that now," he said. "There's political fear of blowback for making such a declaration. War, as ugly as it is, should be done in a very overwhelming and clear fashion."

President Barack Obama has given a green light on air strikes against militant groups such as the Islamic State and Khorasan in both Iraq and Syria, but asserted earlier this month that U.S. ground forces would not be committed to the fight.

The Military Times poll comes at the same time as an NBC poll showing that 72 percent of Americans believe the U.S. will indeed send ground forces to fight the Islamic State, also known as Daesh, ISIS and ISIL.