The tank crews of the 7th armoured brigade have everything they need to fight a war except one thing: the feeling that they are appreciated by the Americans.
On training exercises in the Kuwaiti desert, few men of the Queen's Royal Lancers belonging to the 4,000-strong brigade could conceal their frustration at the thought that they might have to pack up and go home if, as US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld believes, the Americans can go it alone militarily.
"It's just downright arrogance on his part," said gunner Andrew Hopkinson, from Rotherham. "We've come all this way out here to support American forces if they decide to go to war and Rumsfeld tells us we're not needed. The boys are not very happy about that."
Driver Paul Burgess, from Bolton, said: "When the Brits are the only ones supporting the US, he's really gone and shot himself in the foot. I hope that Tony Blair is going to stand up for us and tell Rumsfeld what we think of him."
But though Mr Rumsfeld may have been dismissive of Britain's role in a war against Iraq, his are not the views shared by US forces in Kuwait, who have been trying to soften the impact of the comments with some soldierly diplomacy at Camp Coyote, the 7th armoured brigade's base.
"They've been coming up to us and telling us how glad they are that we're here," said Cpl Matthew Jones, from Wolverhampton. "I think they understand how much use we'd be if it comes to a fight in Iraq. The soldiers want us around even if the politicians don't."
For the "Desert Rats", whose Challenger 2 tanks could be some of the first armoured vehicles to cross into Iraq and who have been earmarked to capture and hold the southern Iraqi port of Basra in the event of war, the questioning of their role could not have come at a worse time.
The regiment is also keenly aware that it may be asked to fight a war which does not have full public backing in the UK.
Major Giles Harrison remarked: "As far as support from back home goes, we know that the British public is not against us, though they may be against the politicians. We know that they'll get behind should war begin. Morale continues to remain high here, though obviously we could have done without Donald Rumsfeld's comment at such a sensitive time."