Hinesville, Ga. ? About 10,000 soldiers — a third of this town’s population — are moving out of their apartments, putting furniture in storage, stocking up on desert gear and trying to steal a few extra moments with loved ones.

The Army’s 3rd Infantry Division is preparing for another stint in the Persian Gulf.

People in Hinesville are used to watching Fort Stewart soldiers leave for dangerous duty, but usually not all of them at once. The last time this happened was 1991, when Operation Desert Storm left behind empty barbershops, burger joints and bars.

Some spouses are preparing to move back home with their parents, rather than face a war alone in a southeast Georgia ghost town.

Though no deployment date has been set, the soldiers are ready to go with little warning. Many spent Thursday tidying up their personal affairs.

Spc. Haidee Slater said leaving the bags at her front door wasn’t good enough.

“My bags are packed and in the trunk of my car, ready to go,” Slater said while buying a used rucksack and extra T-shirts at a military surplus store just outside the main gate of Fort Stewart, 40 miles southeast of Savannah.

A steady stream of soldiers dressed in camouflage has been passing through the doors of David McDonald Rental Properties, paying rent on houses and mobile homes before their deployment makes them break their leases.

“Right now we’re running about 25 percent off, pretty much,” said Teresa McDonald, who owns the business with her husband. “But it’s probably going to get worse.”

McDonald said the couple lost half their business during the Gulf War. As another uniformed soldier walked out her door, she tried to look back and find a bright side.

“We didn’t have a traffic problem,” she said. “That was the only good thing about it.”

Katherine Blair, whose A-1 Cuts barbershop sits just outside Fort Stewart’s main gate, said her business was already down 70 percent.

“I’m having to compensate by doing ladies’ hair,” she said.

To Blair, many of the soldiers who come in for $5 buzz cuts are more than customers. Fort Stewart troops installed her plumbing. One recently gave her a Kuwait flag to hang among the Marilyn Monroe memorabilia that covers her walls.

“Up here, I’m going, ‘How am I going to get by?'” she said, pointing to her head. Then she pointed to her heart. “Down here it’s, ‘My guys are going and am I ever going to see them again?'”