CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Ohio military veteran Robert Rigsby believes U.S. presidents need military experience. So does retired autoworker Mike Artz. But even as America wages two wars, neither man can decide whom to support in November's presidential election.

As Democratic candidate Barack Obama travels around Afghanistan and Iraq this week, Republican rival and Vietnam veteran John McCain is telling U.S. voters that Obama has no experience to qualify him to lead a nation at war.

But with Americans tired after five years of conflict, analysts and voters alike say their president's military service may be less of an issue than ever before.

"There's now a pragmatism in the American public that wants to be reassured its president understands it's a tough world and the military is one thing we take pride in, one of our assets, but it's not just about who is tougher," said Bruce Jentleson, a political science professor at Duke University.

While military service is rarely an issue for leaders of other Western democracies, Americans frequently refer to their president as "commander in chief," and the role of the nation's huge military is never taken lightly in an election year.

McCain ranks far higher than Obama in polls when voters are asked which man is more prepared to be commander in chief and his biography as a Navy airman who endured years of torture in a Hanoi prison is a central part of his appeal.

By contrast, Obama is fighting a reputation as a member of the Harvard-educated elite without a military background. His trip to Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East has been watched for any hint he's not ready to lead a nation at war.

IRAQ WITHDRAWAL

But analysts said the fact that Obama is advocating a timely withdrawal from Iraq while McCain eschews a timetable and insists the war can still be won has complicated what could have been an obvious affinity that veterans and their families might have had for fellow military man McCain.

"I like McCain because he was a POW, he has the experience, but I don't see him getting out of Iraq the way we should, and it's crippling the country," said Artz, a 56-year-old retired autoworker, who says he comes "from a military family."

He hasn't decided who he'll support in November. Neither has Rigsby, 25.

"I was in the military and I'm for the military. I think all presidents should go through the military to be president," said Rigsby, a worker on a Dayton assembly line.

But though Rigsby likes McCain, the Arizona senator's military resume hasn't been enough to win Rigsby's vote.

"I'm undecided," he said with a shrug, saying the economy was his biggest concern this year.

Between 1944 and 1992, military experience was seen as a must for presidents.

That ended when Democrat Bill Clinton, who never served in the military, defeated Republican President George H.W. Bush, a decorated World War II veteran. Four years later, Clinton defeated Bob Dole, another World War II combat veteran.

Republican George W. Bush, who spent the Vietnam years on U.S. soil as a member of the Air National Guard, defeated two Democrats who served in Vietnam, Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004.

Texas A&M University political science professor George C. Edwards doesn't believe military experience has mattered in many elections. And he cautions that even the voting preference of former armed service members cannot be taken for granted.

A FELLOW VETERAN

"They are so diverse," said Edwards, noting that while veterans are often believed to lean Republican, that may be because the small portion of them who are active in veterans' organizations tend to lean Republican -- and are the ones the media turn to for comment.

"A disproportionate number of vets are blacks, and I think you should assume they'll vote for Obama. On the other hand, men are more likely to be Republican and more likely to be veterans," said Edwards. Obama would be the first African American to be elected U.S. president.

Veterans accounted for 11 percent of the voting age population in 2000, according to the U.S. census, down from 21 percent in 1970. By 2030, that figure will shrink to 6 percent, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Last month, an AP/Yahoo News poll found McCain leading Obama among veterans 49 percent to 32 percent

Some politicians view their military service as a big asset.

Republican congressional candidate Fred Dailey, challenging Democratic Rep. Zack Space in a big rural district in Ohio, plays up his service in the campaign flyer he distributes.

The cover shows Dailey dressed in flight gear in front of a combat plane. Inside, there's another of him in Vietnam, rifle in hand. He lists his experience as a Vietnam combat veteran, along with his service with the 101st Airborne, among other nonmilitary accomplishments.

Dailey said he'd be proud to stand beside fellow Vietnam vet McCain on the campaign trail, and believes voters in his district will respect their years of service.

"I'm a patriot. Military service was important to me, it shaped me," said Dailey. "Around here, you see a lot of American flags, and voters are sympathetic to the men and women who served our country and are serving it now."

(Additional reporting by Andy Sullivan in Washington; Editing by David Storey)

(For more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at http:/blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)

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