Sgt. First Class Roland West, a San Antonio soldier who was recently assigned to the 31st Combat Support Hospital from his job at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, said "the glamour kind of went out" of the deployment when he was told he would be helping people who may want him dead.

"But the idea is the same ... whether it's our guys or theirs," West said.

The 31st CSH — mostly doctors, nurses and other medical personnel — will take over two detainee hospitals currently run by American personnel, said Col. Roberto Nang, the unit's commander. They're scheduled to arrive in Iraq in about two weeks and run hospitals in Baghdad and southern Iraq.

Nang, of Ogden, Utah, said many soldiers were disappointed when told they would not be tending to American troops. But he said they're motivated to fulfill their "unglorious" mission because doing it properly is important for the public perception of soldiers in Iraq.

"In the end, we need to look at the impact of a negative medical mission," said Nang, who's beginning his second tour in Iraq. "We've got to do this mission and we've got to do it right."

The unit left Fort Bliss this morning for a week of training at Fort McCoy, Wis., before heading to Iraq. At Fort McCoy, the soldiers will get a crash course in dealing with detainees at American installations.

This is the second time the 31st CSH will deploy to Iraq, but the first time soldiers with the unit will tend to detainees. They're expected to be in Iraq for about a year.

After saying goodbye to their families, the soldiers massed in a pre-deployment building where they waited to be ushered onto charter flights. The last group — about 60 soldiers — tried to pass the time before their flight by reading, doing crossword puzzles or sleeping.

West, a 40-year-old married father who will be in charge of the noncommissioned officers in the intensive care unit at the Baghdad hospital, used the time to read a newly acquired copy of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Surviving Iraq."