JessieG

Britain's Prince Harry is undergoing his last major stint of army training before he and his regiment are deployed to
Iraq within a couple of months, the Ministry of Defence said Monday.Harry has joined around 3,500 other soldiers at the army training ground on Salisbury Plain, southwest England, for a week of mock-up situations including arresting insurgents and facing mortar fire.

The exercises, conducted in bitterly-cold winds, are designed to be as realistic as possible to prepare soldiers for the harsh reality of life in Iraq.

The 22-year-old prince -- the first British royal to serve in a war since his uncle Prince Andrew flew helicopters in the 1982 Falklands conflict -- has reportedly already had special hostage training.

"There's an exercise going on and I understand that Prince Harry is down there and it's preparation for the deployment to Iraq," an MoD spokesman told AFP.

He added that the week-long exercise would "probably be the last major one before they go out there" around May.
Harry, a second lieutenant in the Blues and Royals regiment, is set to deploy to southeast Iraq.