BOISE, IDAHO - Montana's Army National Guard recently returned from a three-week training mission outside of Boise, Idaho. Based on a national rotation of troops, Montana's 163rd Battalion should be ready to deploy next year.

Many soldiers said that made this year's training mission a little more important. The army's Orchard Training Area located south of Boise is a vast desert. Major Michael Moreni said it's very similar to what he saw in Iraq during his last deployment.

"The desert of Boise is a well kept secret," he said. "It's miserable here. It's hot here. It's a great place to train for going to the Middle East." That's just what Montana's 163rd Battalion is doing. Though they've not received official orders yet, a six year rotation of troops indicates the men will probably be called up in 2010.

"You train as if you're going to," said Lt. Col. Kelly Morris, "If you get the alert, you're ready to go." More than 500 men, mostly from Montana, spent three weeks experiencing extreme heat, wind and rain all while preparing for a possible deployment. One big task the had on their list was qualifying to use the M1A1 Abrams Battle Tank. A control tower posed 10 possible scenarios for the tank crews; 6 daytime events and 4 at night. Crews had to work together to identify and destroy targets.

"This whole event is scored," Morris said. "It takes 700 points to qualify." The men were shooting at plywood cutouts of enemy vehicles, and they used live ammunition.

"This is the culminating event for everything we've been working on all year," Morris said. The main gun on the tank is a 120-millimeter cannon. Sgt. Eric Leistiko said there are many emotions that come with firing a weapon that size.

"Everybody's nervous their first engagement," he said, "But then you see it hit the target and everybody gets really excited. It's pretty awesome really." "When everything's on it's one of the best things in life," said Sgt. Russell McClain.

It takes four men to operate each tank. While the army works together to get missions done, there's room for a little competition at annual training. "It's competitive within company and battalion," Morris said. "It's kind of like the super bowl of the year for your military tasks. Everybody wants to be top dog."

If the 163rd Battalion deploys, they will probably not bring the tanks overseas. Instead, they'll be doing a lot more hand-to-hand combat.