By Dona Fair, special to the Tribune

CAMP SHELBY, Miss. &8212; When most of us plan a trip to a foreign country, we simply find a good hotel, scout out the best shopping areas, and make sure our passport is in order. But for most military members, deploying to a foreign country such as Iraq and Afghanistan, involves a whole lot more preparation before their departure.

For the son of an Albert Lea man, going through the tough, mobilization training at Camp Shelby is probably the hardest thing that he has ever experienced.

But as the trainers here like to say, &8220;You have to sweat in training so you don&8217;t bleed in combat.&8221;

Air Force Staff Sgt. Jesse Guerra, son of Jesse Guerra Jr., Albert Lea, is an integrated base defense instructor stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.

He is completing training here prior to shipping out to Iraq.

&8220;I&8217;m headed to Camp Bucca, Iraq, where I&8217;ll be performing convoy duties as a squad leader,&8221; said Guerra.

Located 68 miles from the Gulf Coast, and about 110 miles from New Orleans, La., Camp Shelby is just outside of Hattiesburg, at one of the largest training sites in the United States.

The training post has the capability to train at any given time, more than 12,000 Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Special Operation Forces, National Guard and Reserve and joint operations personnel, like they will fight in stressful, simulated combat conditions.

By using a technique called &8220;theater immersion&8221; the soldiers, airmen and sailors are put into a tough, realistic, hands-on, theater-specific environment.

They live in forward operating bases, interact with real Iraqis or Afghans and patrol and work in villages and towns designed to replicate what they will see when they deploy. This produces leaders and soldiers who are confident, competent and disciplined in their skills, knowledge and abilities.

&8220;I am here learning lessons from previous combat experiences soldiers have learned in combat. We&8217;re also learning the intensive realism of the combat zone through simulated scenarios,&8221; said Guerra.

At Camp Shelby, trainers stress that there is no such thing as National Guard, Reserve or active duty.

Everyone is active duty in this fight on terrorism and everyone gets trained and equipped to the same standard regardless of their military affiliation. Every service member must be able to fight.

&8220;I love the chance to meet different people from different military services. Each person has different beliefs and life lessons. It&8217;s a privilege to get to know these people and learn from them,&8221; said Guerra.

We constantly hear about Improvised Explosive Devices in daily television newscasts and newspaper articles because they are the No. 1 casualty producer, and the enemy&8217;s precision weapon of choice.

Needless to say, they are the No. 1 priority in training.

Every soldier going through training can be hit by an IED at any time and any place and may be exposed to an average of 30 IED events throughout their training. This teaches them to think quickly on their feet so they become adaptive and flexible to their environments.

&8220;The training is important because our mission in Iraq is a matter of life or death. This is our time to polish any uncertainties we may have before combat,&8221; said Guerra.

For Guerra and his fellow service members, training for deployment to Southwest Asia means much more than learning tactics and cultural differences.

It could literally be the difference between life and death.