I’M shocked, shocked to hear U.S. soldiers in combat using four-letter words!

It should come as news to no one that servicemen on the front lines are known to utter the f-word now and then, especially when they’re under fire.

Not only is it understandable, it should also be totally acceptable, under the circumstances.

However, that probably won’t stop some bluenoses from notifying the FCC as soon they hear the battlefield profanity used by some of the soldiers profiled in tonight’s “Frontline” on Ch. 13, which is bravely airing the show, cussing and all.

A number of PBS stations have opted for a bleeped version of the show because they fear being slapped with a steep FCC fine.

I doubt the FCC will have the nerve to fine anyone for the swear words heard in “A Company of Soldiers,” an eye-opening, 90-minute look at the day-to-day lives of an American unit fighting in South Baghdad.

For the record, the profanity is heard about a dozen times. Get over it.

For the show, a “Frontline” crew spent all of last November embedded with soldiers of the 8th Cavalry’s Dog Company, whose job is to ride out in armored convoys to clear various neighborhoods of largely unseen insurgents.

It’s a tough job since the unit – nicknamed “The Misfits”- never seems to find the enemy until the enemy finds them.

Engagement seems to take place only after the unit is bombed or fired upon by surprise, often with deadly results, as when one member of the company-Army Spc. Travis A. Babbitt, 24, of Uvalde, Texas -was fatally shot by a sniper on Nov. 9.

His death is not shown, nor is he one of the soldiers who viewers will get to know on this edition of “Frontline.” But we get to watch as he is eulogized by his fellow warriors, whose courage does not waver when they are asked to go out again to the very same district the next day.

For the most part, “A Company of Soldiers” is a straightahead documentary that does a pretty good job depicting the war in Iraq from the fighting man’s point of view.

Occasionally, though, it slips unnecessarily into “Apocalypse Now” mode, complete with eerie music and a narrator who speaks in a voice reminiscent of Martin Sheen as Capt. Willard, who, in a weary tone, would say things like, “Do Lung Bridge was the last Army outpost on the Nung River. Beyond it, there was only Kurtz . . .”

As this documentary demonstrates, though, the enemy in Iraq is, at times, proving as elusive and determined as the enemy in Vietnam-making for a war that is very difficult to win, despite the professionalism and bravery of the men of D Company.

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“Frontline: A Company of Soldiers”

[***] (Three stars)

Tonight at 9 on WNET/Ch. 13

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I doubt the FCC will have the nerve to fine anyone for the swear words heard in “A Company of Soldiers.”