BAQUBA (Iraq): "Making improvised bombs and setting them off," wrote Majid Mohammed under the special skills section on his application to join the Iraqi National Guard (ING). His interviewers put him down for sergeant.
With unemployment in the farm belt of Diyala province at 40 per cent, officers expect 300 applicants from around the provincial capital Baquba to apply for 100 positions in a third local ING battalion, to start training next week.
Dressed in tracksuits, dirty trousers held together with draw strings, shorts, dishdashas and football strips, the fat and the malnourished straggle in for the interview panel: a handful of questions and a quick literacy test.
It's a two-minute chance to impress the ING battalion and company commanders and US Captain Ralph Radka, in charge of the training course, after filling out their application forms and undergoing a medical check-up at the US base.
Ahmed Shehab is one of the lucky ones. He graduated from middle school and is now working in a factory as a general labourer in Khan Beni Saad, where his ING application was supported by the head of the city council.
Even if his claim of spending eight months in Saddam's special forces is slightly dubious, he can read. Private is marked on his application folder. But for the ING commanders, the illiterate and those with known links to "terrorists" on local or nationwide blacklists are almost certain no hopers.
The coalition forces have reported countless attacks nationwide involving members of Iraq's security forces and have had to juggle the urgent need to create a potent home-grown security apparatus with the risk of infiltration by militants.
Another problem encountered by the fledgling army has been chronic desertion, especially when compelled to take decisive action against their fellow countrymen.
Amid nearly nine hours of interviews, Radka estimates that the overriding motivation for 70 per cent is to serve their country. Nevertheless, the incentive of 220 dollars a month is enough for many to try to lie their way in.
Another man is ordered to march across the room, arms flaring wildly, proving suspicions his own military career was fabrication. Those without references or obscure origins are also binned. "If we don't know them, they represent danger," said one of the ING company commanders.
A 16-year-old with the barest hint of beard is immediately waved out of the room. "They have to be 18," shrugs US Sergeant Zaine el-ouarati, who translates for Radka. An army driver for 15 years, Latif Hamid is binned for being the cousin of a local ex-colonel in Saddam Hussein's secret services wanted by the US military. -AFP