Having tried but failed to convince its allies to commit more troops to Afghanistan, the Pentagon last month ordered the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina to deploy in March.

They are due to arrive ahead of an expected spring offensive by the Taliban, who make use of very different tactics and terrain to the insurgents in Iraq.

"We are expecting a different kind of fight" than the type of attacks combat troops are used to dealing with in Iraq, said Captain David Lee, part of a reconnaissance unit attached to the Marines.

"In Iraq, the enemy was engaging us through IEDs (improvised explosive devices), they would run and hide," said Lee. "In Afghanistan, the Taliban will come and shoot at us, get into a gunfight. We didn't get a lot of that last time I was in Iraq."

He said that basic training for patrolling and shooting was the same for both theaters but that the Afghan deployment had required some fine-tuning.

"In the past two months, we focused more on the use of close air support, cover fire and supporting arms," he said, while supervising shooting practice for around 15 Marines firing assault rifles at targets 500 meters (yards) away.

Besides combat training, the soldiers have been taking language lessons, to help them be better understood among the Pashto and Dari-speaking Afghans.

"We've got language classes where we learn to say things like 'we are going to search your houses,'" explained one young Marine.

"Regarding training, you always wish you had more time. But we are absolutely ready," said the unit's commander, Colonel Peter Petronzio, sitting in an office surrounded by bags packed and ready to go.

"You have to be ready to go anywhere. Could be in Lebanon, could be in Iraq, could be in Afghanistan," said the commander, a veteran with 24-years in the Marines.

His troops could be deployed in the violence-torn south or the east, where they would be used to support the 50,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, with stability, security, and development duties.

"Everything we do focuses on counter-insurgency: we realized that in the last four or five years. That's the fight we are in now," he said.

The deployment will be backed up by around 20 helicopters, including combat, assault, transport and heavy-lift choppers.

The Marines' arrival is a major boost for NATO troops who have for months been asking for helicopter reinforcements. Afghanistan has in the last year seen its most violent period since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

The Marines will be supporting Canadian, British and Dutch troops deployed in the troublesome south, a hotspot for violence where the most deadly skirmishes have occurred and where opium cultivation is flourishing.

While Secretary of Defense Robert Gates upset US allies in January by saying troops in the south, mainly from Britain, Canada and the Netherlands, were not properly trained to fight an insurgency, Petronzio was at pains to reach out.

"I can't wait to get over there and see what we can do collectively. We are not going over there to show everybody how to do it, we are going over there to help," he said.

"I am sure we will work fine together. These countries have great troops."

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