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Track Palin, son of the potential US vice-president, will be heading for the Middle East next week to prepare for military service in one of the most dangerous corners of Iraq.

A year after enlisting in the US Army on the sixth anniversary of 9/11, Private First Class Palin will fly to Kuwait next Thursday for acclimatisation, and will be deployed a few weeks later to an area of Diyala province teeming with al-Qaeda insurgents.

It will not be an easy tour for the 19-year old, who is assigned to 1-1 Bravo Company, 52nd Infantry, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, based at Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

While much of Iraq has been largely pacified by the US “surge”, Diyala remains a hotbed of the Sunni insurgency. American military intelligence estimates there are still around 150 hardcore al-Qaeda fighters in the province, backed up by between 200 and 400 armed bandits who will fight for whoever pays them most.

Diyala is littered with improvised explosive devices (IED’s) — there were 82 bomb blasts in a particularly kinetic two and a half month period.

A notorious patch of palm groves five miles by two and a half backing on to the Diyala river, has taken a particularly heavy toll on US troops. Al-Qaeda fighters are believed to be entrenched in the the thick under-bush. On one recent mission into the groves troops from the 2nd Stryker Calvary Regiment lost one man and had six injured.

“Three nights ago we dropped artillery in there, I guarantee there are still mother-f***ers in there, there are still AQ out there, so we dropped some artillery to shake them up,” Sergeant Michael Patrick Malloy Jr, 27, said.

The palm grove is impenetrable to overhead surveillance equipment, such as Predator drones, allowing insurgents to move about with impunity. It also means that any American missions that go in there do so without air cover. To contain the threat, American troops have encircled the grove with barbed wire.

The story of Track Palin, thus named by his mother, a keen runner, because he was born in the track and field season, would be unremarkable in American terms were it not for his family connections. The son of the potential vice-president will not be just an anonymous soldier from small-town Alaska.

“He is probably going to get teased a lot, they will say ’dude your sister is hot’ and things like that,” Captain Tiffany Bilderback, 25, and 13 months into her 15 month tour in Diyala, told The Times. Private Palin’s sister Bristol, 17, has already tasted unwanted publicity when it was revealed that the unmarried teenager is pregnant.

“Will it be hard? Yes. If it was me and my parent was a vice-presidential candidate or the vice-president, it would be hard. It gives you a celebrity status,” said Captain Stephen Thibodeau, 30, on his second tour in Iraq, with the 2nd Stryker Cavlary Regiment, based in Vilseck, Germany.

“I would not envy being in that position, much like Harry in Afghanistan…. you admire him wanting to do his job when he is not anonymous anymore, everyone knows who he is,” added Captain Thibodeau.

“It’s hard to fully prepare for this place,” Lieutenant Brad Fernstrom, 25, added. “I’ve been pretty lucky I haven’t been hit by any IED’s.”

Luckily Private Palin, one of about 4,600 US troops serving in Diyala, will be protected by some of the best armour money can by. The traditional Humvee vehicles that the US Army used in the past have largely been replaced by MRPS (Mine Resistance Ambush Proof) trucks. They offer significant protection from IEDs. Although the Stryker Regiment has seen seven of those vehicles destroyed in bomb attacks, there were no serious injuries.

Private Palin could well meet Beau Biden during his tour of duty. Mr Biden, 39, will be serving as a Captain in the Delaware National Guard and will be in Iraq at the same time. His father is Democratic vice-president candidate Joe Biden.

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