Call to prayer
LISA MILLAR: The morning prayer breaks the silence in the town of Takira.
For once, there are no explosions, no rifle shots but everywhere the signs of violence.
US SOLDIER: I'm going to move inside there, myself and my interpreter, take a position down here.
LISA MILLAR: US Commander Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Logan is in a crucial meeting with the town's leaders.
SOLDIER: Sir, I will tell you, we caught him in the act of making a bomb.
LISA MILLAR: The negotiations move to the town's cemetery, where the Americans offer to help rebuild a destroyed restaurant.
But the money is fake. In fact, so is this town. It's all part of an elaborate ruse to train these soldiers for the real thing.
Iraq is 10,000 kilometres away. This is a military training base in central Louisiana, and Lieutenant Colonel Logan, a full-time soldier, is about to lead a battalion of National Guards into Iraq.
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL PHIL LOGAN, BATTALION COMMANDER: Yeah, it's a 'Forrest' grade, but the mission itself and the focus of training doesn't change. If you sweat real hard, you'll see some sand here.
LISA MILLAR: These part-time soldiers, who joined the guards to defend and protect America at home, are being called on more than ever before to fill gaps in the army overseas.
The rounds are blanks, but this is deadly serious. In just a matter of weeks, these injuries could be real.LAWRENCE KORB,
DEFENCE ANALYST: In order to keep one soldier forward deployed, you'd need at least four or five back home coming and going and training, and the army simply doesn't have that many people.
LISA MILLAR: Lawrence Korb was in charge of military personnel in the Reagan administration. He's troubled by the load on the National Guard, weekend warriors who now make up 40 per cent of the force in Iraq.
LAWRENCE KORB: Once they've seen that this occupation is going to go on, once they've seen that they're greeted not as liberators but as the enemy, the morale has really plummeted. Their main goal now is just to survive, stay alive and get the heck out of there.
LISA MILLAR: Despite the enormous stresses on the military, the high death toll, and increasing questions about the reasons for war, polls show that more than two-thirds of soldiers and their families say Bush is the better commander in chief.
And regardless of whether they personally back the President, they're committed to the mission he's given them.
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL PHIL LOGAN: Well, certainly I believe that our cause is just, and we're fighting terrorists and we're also bringing freedom and democracy to a country that has not had it for decades.
LAWRENCE KORB: They've got to believe in this, because if they don't, then it becomes psychologically very difficult for them, and the fear is that Kerry basically is a wimp on defence.
LISA MILLAR: John Kerry has campaigned on better treatment for the National Guard.
JOHN KERRY, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: shows that we are overstretched and overextended, and the Guard and the Reserve have been called on to fill in the gap. As President, I pledge to you that I will end the backdoor draft of people in the National Guard.
LISA MILLAR: The military vote will be critical for President Bush.
GEORGE W BUSH, US PRESIDENT: We're transforming our military. I will make sure the all-volunteer army remains the all-volunteer army.
LISA MILLAR: Pentagon bosses are urging soldiers to get their ballots in.
LAWRENCE KORB: It can have a big impact in certain states.
In a close election, anything can happen and there happen to be, for example, a lot of military facilities in a lot of southern States, but Florida really is the key.
LISA MILLAR: There is a minority which has doubts. Michael Washington has already posted an absentee vote for John Kerry.
MICHAEL WASHINGTON, NATIONAL GUARDSMAN: I think that we're there for the wrong reason, but he's in charge, got do what we're told, so that's where we're headed.
LISA MILLAR: He has little time for a President he believes dodged National Guard service.
MICHAEL WASHINGTON: Well, some people's parents have money enough to get them out of going to places and I guess that's OK.
LISA MILLAR: At the Arabic radio station on base, another commander is put through his paces.
SOLDIER: There are criminals who wish to disrupt this process.
LISA MILLAR: Hussain Talibani deserted Saddam Hussein's army twice.
IRAQI SOLDIER: What are your plans to regain their trust again?
LISA MILLAR: Now he serves the American military, role-playing as radio host.
HUSSAIN TALIBANI: This is the last thing I can do to help these people who liberated my people.
LISA MILLAR: And like the majority of people on this military base, he's anxious about this election.HUSSAIN TALABANI: The American voters will decide that, but I hope they will vote for George Bush. He's a great man. He's writing history against the terrorists.
LISA MILLAR: In the closing days of this election battle, George W Bush and John Kerry will be fighting to secure credibility as the most able commander-in-chief.
LISA MILLAR: The morning prayer breaks the silence in the town of Takira.
For once, there are no explosions, no rifle shots but everywhere the signs of violence.
US SOLDIER: I'm going to move inside there, myself and my interpreter, take a position down here.
LISA MILLAR: US Commander Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Logan is in a crucial meeting with the town's leaders.
SOLDIER: Sir, I will tell you, we caught him in the act of making a bomb.
LISA MILLAR: The negotiations move to the town's cemetery, where the Americans offer to help rebuild a destroyed restaurant.
But the money is fake. In fact, so is this town. It's all part of an elaborate ruse to train these soldiers for the real thing.
Iraq is 10,000 kilometres away. This is a military training base in central Louisiana, and Lieutenant Colonel Logan, a full-time soldier, is about to lead a battalion of National Guards into Iraq.
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL PHIL LOGAN, BATTALION COMMANDER: Yeah, it's a 'Forrest' grade, but the mission itself and the focus of training doesn't change. If you sweat real hard, you'll see some sand here.
LISA MILLAR: These part-time soldiers, who joined the guards to defend and protect America at home, are being called on more than ever before to fill gaps in the army overseas.
The rounds are blanks, but this is deadly serious. In just a matter of weeks, these injuries could be real.LAWRENCE KORB,
DEFENCE ANALYST: In order to keep one soldier forward deployed, you'd need at least four or five back home coming and going and training, and the army simply doesn't have that many people.
LISA MILLAR: Lawrence Korb was in charge of military personnel in the Reagan administration. He's troubled by the load on the National Guard, weekend warriors who now make up 40 per cent of the force in Iraq.
LAWRENCE KORB: Once they've seen that this occupation is going to go on, once they've seen that they're greeted not as liberators but as the enemy, the morale has really plummeted. Their main goal now is just to survive, stay alive and get the heck out of there.
LISA MILLAR: Despite the enormous stresses on the military, the high death toll, and increasing questions about the reasons for war, polls show that more than two-thirds of soldiers and their families say Bush is the better commander in chief.
And regardless of whether they personally back the President, they're committed to the mission he's given them.
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL PHIL LOGAN: Well, certainly I believe that our cause is just, and we're fighting terrorists and we're also bringing freedom and democracy to a country that has not had it for decades.
LAWRENCE KORB: They've got to believe in this, because if they don't, then it becomes psychologically very difficult for them, and the fear is that Kerry basically is a wimp on defence.
LISA MILLAR: John Kerry has campaigned on better treatment for the National Guard.
JOHN KERRY, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: shows that we are overstretched and overextended, and the Guard and the Reserve have been called on to fill in the gap. As President, I pledge to you that I will end the backdoor draft of people in the National Guard.
LISA MILLAR: The military vote will be critical for President Bush.
GEORGE W BUSH, US PRESIDENT: We're transforming our military. I will make sure the all-volunteer army remains the all-volunteer army.
LISA MILLAR: Pentagon bosses are urging soldiers to get their ballots in.
LAWRENCE KORB: It can have a big impact in certain states.
In a close election, anything can happen and there happen to be, for example, a lot of military facilities in a lot of southern States, but Florida really is the key.
LISA MILLAR: There is a minority which has doubts. Michael Washington has already posted an absentee vote for John Kerry.
MICHAEL WASHINGTON, NATIONAL GUARDSMAN: I think that we're there for the wrong reason, but he's in charge, got do what we're told, so that's where we're headed.
LISA MILLAR: He has little time for a President he believes dodged National Guard service.
MICHAEL WASHINGTON: Well, some people's parents have money enough to get them out of going to places and I guess that's OK.
LISA MILLAR: At the Arabic radio station on base, another commander is put through his paces.
SOLDIER: There are criminals who wish to disrupt this process.
LISA MILLAR: Hussain Talibani deserted Saddam Hussein's army twice.
IRAQI SOLDIER: What are your plans to regain their trust again?
LISA MILLAR: Now he serves the American military, role-playing as radio host.
HUSSAIN TALIBANI: This is the last thing I can do to help these people who liberated my people.
LISA MILLAR: And like the majority of people on this military base, he's anxious about this election.HUSSAIN TALABANI: The American voters will decide that, but I hope they will vote for George Bush. He's a great man. He's writing history against the terrorists.
LISA MILLAR: In the closing days of this election battle, George W Bush and John Kerry will be fighting to secure credibility as the most able commander-in-chief.