As the military build-up continues ahead of war in the Middle East, Katie Barlow met some of the Territorial Army soldiers facing an uncertain future and a possible posting to Iraq.

TERRITORIAL Army volunteers have fought a long battle to shed their Dad's Army image.

But for Sergeant Jackie Graham it is more of a Grandma's Army.

At 42 years of age, Sgt Graham was yesterday leaving her 19-year-old daughter, her 12-year-old son and her nine-month-old granddaughter behind on Teesside.

What the next few months hold for the family is unclear.

Sgt Graham is among a group of 24 Red Caps from the North-East who have been called up for extra training at Nottingham.

They will undertake an induction course at the Reserve Training and Mobilisation Centre, before spending two weeks taking part in military contingency preparations.

Afterwards, Sgt Graham expects to find herself on a flight bound for the Gulf.

She said: "It was pretty heart-wrenching saying goodbye to my family, especially as we do not know how long we are going to be away for.

"All we know is we are going for two-weeks training and then after that it is anybody's guess.

"We could be away for six to nine months and that is particularly hard as you miss so much.

"What is hard is I am definitely going to miss birthdays and celebrations."

Sgt Graham, who has 14 years' experience in the military, said the prospect of going to war was something she had had in the back of her mind since joining the TA, but it was something she had not taken too seriously - until now.

She said: "When that letter comes through your letterbox it is all brought to reality.

"The worst part about it all is not knowing what is going to happen. We just have to take each day at a time.

"I have served 14 years and only have another three left to do and they may be sending me off to war.

"I do believe we will be sent into Iraq, but we will just have to wait and see. We do not have any idea of what we are going to face and it is just a case of waiting and seeing."

Officer Commanding Jeffrey Gable, in charge of the company, said: "We don't know what is going to happen, but we are lucky in that the group are pretty close and are offering support to each other.

"We have a broad spectrum of people going, and some of them have only gone as far as Germany before, while others have been to Bosnia and Sierra Leone.

"Saying goodbye to family is undoubtedly the hardest thing to do and many said goodbye last night so as to avoid tears today.

"The group will be given the right training and equipment and I am confident they will cope.