The U.S. military industrial complex has always been on the cutting edge. Let's face it, from rocketry in the 50s to unmanned death drones in the 00s, the Yankee war machine is a key driver in both exploring and perfecting new technology.

But it's not just the toys that are cutting edge; it's also the training techniques designed to harden soldiers for the realities of the battlefield or in the case of the ongoing Iraq war, prolonged occupation and counter-insurgency.

Full Battle Rattle, featured at Hot Docs 2008, explores the latest in immersive training exercises used by the U.S. military. The filmmakers, Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss, ride with a green Army Ranger battalion as they embark on a two-week test in a specialized training facility in the Mojave Desert in California. There, in a desolate desert environment, hundreds of real Iraqi American actors pretend to live in a series of fake Iraqi towns. Meanwhile, U.S. soldiers with combat experience on the ground in Iraq play the roles of insurgents within the mock Medinas, generally taking great delight in sniping at the raw recruits stumbling through the dusty fake streets of the town.

The soldiers and their commanders must role-play their way through elaborate, inevitably explosive situations devised by a group of boardroom "situation engineers" who look like they have spent a lot of time playing Risk and quite possibly worked as Dungeon Masters at gaming conventions across the land. Whatever their backgrounds, these planners put the rookie soldiers through their paces and the super-advanced laser tag style harnesses the soldiers and townsfolk wear to track their live/die rations blink steadily though out the film.

The filmmakers had great access to this military exercise and effectively yet tastefully track the mistakes, successes and cultural clashes that fuel the two week, final test the unit must face. The green commander who thinks he can negotiate with the mayor of the town to end sectarian violence is suitably heartbroken when an insurgent attack frags pretty much his entire unit. Meanwhile, a subplot follows the fortunes of some of the Iraqi immigrants who, having escaped their war-torn homeland, now find themselves playing starring roles in a simulation of the very situations they left behind.

Inter cut with well shot HD action sequences and bound together by slick, neo-militaristic motion graphics, Full Battle Rattle is one of the best of the flood of Iraq war docs being produced these days. Plus, it's the best Live Action Role Playing documentary since Darkon.