Taji, Iraq (CNN) -- Under a sweltering sun, Fallah al Araiby hunched over the hood of a car, scrubbing away the dirt. Once, his son used to work alongside him on a busy street corner in central Baghdad. Now, he does it alone. His son is one of the thousands who have answered the call from Iraq's top Shiite cleric to take up arms to protect Iraq from extremist Sunni fighters whose aim is to oust Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shiite-dominated government and establish an Islamic state that stretches from Iraq to northern Syria. With three days of training, his son -- 25-year-old Ali -- was given a helmet, a rifle, a magazine of ammunition and sent to the front line, al Araiby said.
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Fallah al Araiby is glad his son, 25-year-old Ali, will be fighting Sunni insurgents
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With three days of training, Ali was given a helmet, a rifle and sent to the front line
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An Iraqi colonel says some 23,000 volunteers have signed up for the security forces
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The big question: Are they enough to take on seasoned ISIS fighters?
Take the report about fighting at a military base south of @placeholder: