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Fort Campbell, Kentucky

Soldiers crouch in a narrow walk way about thirty feet above the ground, shuffling forward to take their turn abseiling down a pair of ropes.

Many of these Screaming Eagles are just fledglings, new recruits to the 101st Airbourne.

They're on what the US army says is the only air assault course in the world, learning how to land from a helicopter They say it is the toughest ten days of training in the army.

How does it compare to what the marines go through, I ask the major in charge of showing us around.

"Sissies," he says with a smile.

The Screaming Eagles, with their long history of tough fights in World War Two and Vietnam and Iraq has around twenty thousand men in Afghanistan.

But the 4,000 who have been flying out over the last week will bring the surge to its peak.

The men and women who fly out to Afghanistan tomorrow are the last wave of the final surge, the force that President Obama is relying on to bring this war to an end.

Some of the recruits clutching the rope don't quite get it right. They rotate. They fail to let go and move away from the rope.

They jump before they are told.

For all these sins the trainers yell and make them perform the "dying cockroach" an ungainly, and I guess painful exercise.

Some of the surge troops are pretty raw.

I talk to several who only joined the army at the beginning of the year. Private Anthony Coscarella is frank about why he joined.

"It's the only place you could get paid to travel, shoot guns and exercise. There's no other job for that type of adventure. I'm kinda excited. A little nervous, I mean it's the first time I'm going to be out of the country and it's the most dangerous place on earth for Americans," he says.

Pte Coscarella says he thinks they can win, but it will be hard.

"Well the Russians couldn't do it years ago you know, so they're gonna fight until they can't anymore," he says.

"It's not an easy war, you know. They're not wearing uniforms so we gotta look for all sorts of clues as to who's the enemy and who's civilian really. And that could be anywhere at anytime. Our drill sergeant told us stay alert, stay alive that's what I'm going to stick to."

For Sergeant Nathan Hyman, it will be the third time he has been to war.

He's fought in both Iraq and Afghanistan. But this time is different.

"It's very crucial as far as what's gonna be happening so it's definitely an important time in the war and I'm glad to see it come to this point. You know, to see the light at the end of the tunnel kinda thing," he says.

I ask Sgt Hyman if the President is right to announce that American troops will start coming home next summer.

"I don't know as far as right or wrong but I'm glad that he has you know made those decisions and I will definitely stand by him as much as I can. Everybody likes to see the war coming to an end," he says.

As I mention yesterday, Major Bradd Schultz won't be going out to Afghanistan this time, but he's been many times before, and while he is quite clear that Iraq shows what progress can be made in a year - he cautions against artificial deadlines.

He says he is impressed with the Afghan security forces, feels a bond with them and wouldn't want to let them down.

I ask Maj Schultz if he trusts American politicians to get it right.

"Right now they've shown a commitment to the people of Afghanistan by sending our brigades, by sending the man power in there. I think they are finally starting to listen and we can get the job done. Trust? Politicians are politicians but to us it's not about politics it's about going over and getting the mission done and help the people of Afghanistan," he says.

I put to him that there is a suspicion that the military will, in a year or two's time, ask for another few months or another few years to do that.

"I don't see a drop dead date when we will just pack up everything and take off. Even in Iraq we are leaving fifty thousand soldiers. We're not just going to stop and get up and leave. You feel responsible for those guys. You get in firefights, planning sessions, you are with the Afghan national security forces, you become a team. It's just not fair to them. They won't trust you if they know y'all gonna leave," Maj Schultz says.

The soldiers I speak to seem torn, just in the same way I suspect their Generals are, and indeed their political masters.

They like the idea that the end is in sight - they want the conflict to end. But they want it to end in something that feels like victory and a job well done.

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