UDAIRI RANGE, 11 December 2002 — The 19th Support Center, normally located in tranquil Wiesbaden, Germany, never conducts defense training. But three months ago, the logistical unit was ordered to move to Kuwait for live-fire exercises.

Some of the 47 specialists sent out from the unit will even be staying on past the duration, which for those heading home will be Dec. 17, to conduct additional training.

Either arrangement seems to be just fine for the soldiers, all logistics experts decidedly excited about being in the desert and shooting off their weapons.

Enjoying a change from the mundane tasks of working on computers and vehicles, the unit is training hard for a two-hour live-fire exercise tomorrow, which will be attended by the 5th Corps Commander and the commanding general of the 3rd Corps Support Command.

Representatives of the Kuwaiti armed forces are also scheduled to attend.

Pulling guard duty near a mock fighting position at this tiny camp on the Udairi range, where the unit is currently based, some 13 kilometers from the Iraqi border, 19-year-old Annie Hinkle from California said she loves her job, and especially at the moment.

"You get to do stuff people never do. I live in Germany, for free, I’ve traveled to France, Spain and Poland, and now I’m in Kuwait," she said, pointing out that she intends to spend 20 years in the US Army.

Asked if she was ready for war with Iraq, should it come to that, Hinkle said, "You have to be. That’s what I raised my right hand for."

Meters away, Charles Carpenter, also 19, was busy digging a trench.

"We’re not infantry and what we’re doing now is infantry stuff, it’s good training," said Carpenter, who is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Specialist Brian Fahey, shoveling sand nearby, said he wanted to join the army because of the 2001 Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington.

"That’s what did it," said the Long Beach, California native who is married with four children. "I thought I’d done my time and served my country after four years in the US Marine Corps. But after Sept. 11, I knew I had to do more."

"I was born ready," Fahey boasted when asked if he was prepared for any possible US-led military campaign against Iraq.

The unit has been stationed at the camp for only a few days, digging, building, conducting air assaults, shooting high-caliber weapons, detonating anti-personnel mines and repelling mock Iraqi reconnaissance vehicles.

Training apparently kicked off a bit rusty but later picked up. "Sand got in our weapons, we’re not used to that," said one soldier.

"A lot have used their weapons at home stations, hundreds of times, but this is a different environment," said another.

Nevertheless, one managed to hit his mock target 139 out of 200 times with a 50-caliber M2 machine-gun.

The unit’s primary task is to defend logistics, protecting main supply routes in the event of war but its members still need to train how to fight and negotiate their own way out of a tricky situation.

The support camp, which they have built up remarkably fast to resemble a "defensive perimeter", will be increasingly used during training over the next three months.

The 19th Support Center wraps up its work here on Dec. 13, after which another unit will come through for training and reinforcing the area. (AFP)