FORT McCOY, Wis. — The 833rd Engineer Company has a lot of company at Fort McCoy. Thousands of soldiers are cycling in and out of the fort, heading home, heading to Iraq and to Afghanistan.

But the soldiers from southeast Iowa don’t see most of that. They’re tucked away in a small corner of the fort called FOB Liberty. FOB stands for forward operating base. It’s the kind of base they will use in Iraq.

Large earth berms surround the base. You slow down and weave between barriers to enter. No one gets in without an ID. Inside, rows and rows of sand-colored tents house the soldiers.

It’s not just the FOB layout that makes it seem isolated. Fort McCoy is huge. A sign near the south entrance reads “Main Gate — 7 miles.” Just getting to a training area means a drive of 20 minutes or more.

The soldiers don’t have Internet connections yet. Cell phones work, but finding time to call home isn’t a simple issue.

“It’s been a pretty busy schedule,” said Spc. Jared Wilson. “The training, we’re busy from the time we get up to the time we go to bed.”

Most of the 833rd served in Iraq with the 224th Engineer Battalion. Capt. Ben Lampe, the company’s commanding officer, estimates 60 or 70 percent of the unit deployed in 2004-05.

That works both ways as the unit prepares. The soldiers know a bit about Iraq. They know something about the physical conditions. But that familiarity can breed overconfidence. Lampe warns against being cocky. Things are different. Being cocky is dangerous. It puts your guard down.

The soldiers’ training aims at two goals. One is obvious. The soldiers need to know their mission. They need to know how to handle things. They talk about muscle memory, a term borrowed from sports. It means drilling the same things over and over, so the real thing happens automatically.

Training also changes the group. They must learn to live together, without the personal space they are familiar with from civilian life. The tents have rows of cots. Five feet between spots is a lot.

Morale is a tricky thing to control. The soldiers are upbeat now. They laugh. They tell jokes. It won’t always be that way. There will be days when no one wants to be where they are.

Lampe encourages the soldiers to “bitch up.” That means they should complain sometimes, but in specific ways. Air gripes to soldiers that are the same rank or higher, not to soldiers over whom you have authority. And officers should never, ever complain to enlisted men.

That idea parallels a sign near Lampe’s cot in the command tent. It’s only two lines: “Train your lieutenants. Trust your NCOs.”

No officer or senior enlisted man can be everywhere. The good ones don’t try. They just make sure everyone knows the mission and can take action when warranted.

First aid is a good example. Everyone in the company gets basic first aid training in things like putting on a tourniquet or a bandage. Some get more extensive training on IVs. Getting fluids into a wounded soldier keeps up blood volume and can help prevent shock.