'I loved every minute in Iraq' (British 'weekend warriors' in Basra)

As Britain's TA faces unprecedented demands, Jessica Jonzen talks to a group of part-time soldiers who have just returned from the front line in Basra

'We are well-trained, highly disciplined fighting machines, ready for war. We're just not available during the week." The Territorial Army has long been the subject of gentle mockery, as this quote from Gareth Keenan, David Brent's war-obsessed deputy in the BBC comedy The Office proves. The popular perception is of a boys' club for "weekend warriors" - who aren't actually much good at real soldiering.

But things have been changing recently. The 40,000-strong TA now forms 25 per cent of the British Army, while 15,000 of the 80,000 soldiers deployed to Iraq since 2003 have been from the TA.

And that number is set to increase. Earlier this week the Government announced that a further 800 TA soldiers were being called up to serve in Iraq in the spring - prompting the Tories to criticise Tony Blair for "placing an over-reliance on reservists".

There are worries that the growing pressures on Territorials and the reality of conflict - five of the British troops' 98 casualties in Iraq have come from the TA - are having a damaging effect. Over 6,000 part-time soldiers have quit in the past year, leaving the TA with its lowest ever manning levels.

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