The Emma Update Page

Date / Time	Event
	CPT(P) Emma L. Toops Update Page
05 APR 2003 04:00	I dropped Emma and her thousand pounds of stuff off at Brigade HQ. She had to go get her weapon and clean it.
05 APR 2003 10:00	Emma called me from the gym where they had gathered to be counted. They had completed that and while waiting for the busses to come they were watching a movie, Spiderman.
05 APR 2003 13:00	Approximate time the plane actually took off from Colorado Springs
05 APR 2003 18:30	Emma called me from the east coast. The plane had landed for refueling. While they were refueling they had let them off the plane. We could talk long because there were very long lines at the phones
08 APR 2003 10:30	Emma called from Camp New Jersey, Kumait. She had arrived safe and sound. They were in the process of getting all the hardware off the ships and ready to move. Also since all the personnel had not arrived yet she had been temporarily assigned to fill in for the S1. The S1 is kinda like the human resources department of most places. But she won't be doing that too long.
10 APR 2003 14:30	Emma called to say "Hi" to everyone. She was running some errands with a friend, Vivian (she's part of JAG), and happened to be by the phones so decided to call. The interesting thing here was it was 11 PM for her. Iraq, or at least the area that Em is in is 9 hours ahead of Mountain time. Em thought they would be at Camp New Jersey for an indeterminate time. She didn't know any more than that. Said she was doing fine. She said the temp was up on the 90's so sending her melting things probably wouldn't be a good idea.
17 APR 2003 03:50	Emma called. She is doing fine. She wanted to say "Hi" to everyone. She saw Scott Kennedy the other day which was nice because Scott was the Brigade chaplin for a while. She also thought she'd have time to attend the service today. She didn't know when she'd be able to call next so we'll just have to correspond by snail mail for now. If you are interested in sending "care" packages give me a call or email and I'll let you know what she needs/has asked for.
28 APR 2003 18:00	Received first letter from Emma. It was dated 08 APR 2003 1300. She states in the letter that she arrived at her camp at 06 APR 2003 at 21:00. She was the only female officer in her group and she was looking forward to Vivian, an officer in JAG, arriving. The phone centers that they are using are AT&T. They will only accept AT&T calling cards. Collect calls are $13.50 for the first minute and $3.00 for every addititional minute and credit card calls are even more expensive. They are also limited to 20 minutes on the phone. I remember during one of her calls she mentioned that she had waited over an hour to use the phone because the lines were so long. Hopefully when the 3rd BCT gets setup they will have access to phones and it won't be such a long wait. She says that the camp they were at was "HUGE". She wanted me to tell "everyone that I'm fine and that I love them."
16 MAY 2003 12:03	Yeah!!! Honey called!!! As you can see it's been a month since we talked on the telephone. We were mosthly just catching up with stuff that has happened in the last month. Email has been sporadic and letters are WAY out of date by the time they arrive. I did ask her how long she thought she was going to be in Iraq and she thought she might be home on or about October. A guess at this point in time but it sure will be nice to have her home for Thanksgiving or at least by Christmas. If you want to send her a care package please check with me for her "current" requests. Thanks
?? ??? 2003 ??:??	Here is a picture that Em sent back.
?? ??? 2003 ??:??	Here is a picture of Em happy cuz she's eating dessert. I have more pictures to post but it is taking a while to get them formatted properly. So keep checking back.
?? ??? 2003 ??:?? Posted 26 JUL 2003	This is a picture of Emma's "quarters" or at least at some point in time this is where she slept. If you look closely you can see her scrabble game on her cot.
?? ??? s2003 ??:?? Posted 27 JUL 2003	Here is what weather looks like in Iraq. Em's never commented about this particular storm but she has said that it is very hot and dusty.
?? ??? 2003 ??:?? Posted 27 JUL 2003	This is a building that was along the road that 3rd Brigade Combat team traveled.
29 JUL 2003 12:30	Emma called today!!!! Yeah!!! She is doing OK. They are "digging in" around Balad. She said that soon she will have her own "room". They are building some quarters around the Brigade HQ. Currently she is sharing a tent with at least one other female officer, CPT Sandra Chavez. That should be good. I'm sure she'll have air conditioning as well. She was pretty certain that they, 4th Infantry Division, would be redeploying sometime in the March/April 2004 time frame. POUT She's going to miss the Holidays.
Posted 31 JUL 2003	Thought it was time to do the Sunrise.... Sunset pictures... Beautiful.... sigh
15 AUG 2003	Received an Email fron Emma! She's doing OK. She has her own room now(four walls and roof made of wood). There are 4 other females that share her "wing" of the building. She's keeping busy with her Pay Officer duties and likes it that way. She's going to take pictures of her room and as soon as I get them I'll post them. There have been rumors about a "mid-tour" leave. It doesn't sound like that is going to happen and if it does the soldier's will only be allowed to go as far as Germany. However, they will be given some R&R time at a "luxury" location in Iraq. What I've heard is one of the palaces is going to be setup as a resort area where the soldiers can go for a long weekend.
20 AUG 2003	Received a package today from Honey! She some Iraqi Dinars, more film (I'll post more pics as soon as I get it developed), her broken camera, and a T-Shirt for me. I'll try to get a picture of it and post it as well. She's doing "Ok" but she's not happy about being stuck in the desert and her Army "timeline" is passing her by. If you write to her please send words of encouragement. Thanks!
22 JUL 2003	Emma called last night/this morning YEAH!!! She was doing some pay agent stuff and was able to squeeze in a quick phone call. She sounded in better spirits than her recent emails and letters have. I think maybe because it was the first tiem we've been able to talk in almost a month. The "satellite phone that she had been using to call was broken that and the unstable nature of their internet connection has been a information trickle for a while. So if you get a chance you might want and haven't sen her anything recently now might be a good time. I have one of the two rolls of film developed I should be posting some of those later today/tomorrow.
Posted 25 AUG 2003	Here's a picture of Emma and fellow Captains Pace and Stegmaier sitting in the back of a Humvee at 3BCT HQ.
14 SEP 2003	Wow! Can't believe it's been so long since I posted anything. Sorry, I'll try to do better. In an attempt to try to make up for my sluggishness over the past couple of weeks I'll post a number of pictures that Honey has sent back.
Posted 14 SEP 2003	Here is Emma (I'm guessing in the back of a Hummer) with her M-16.
Posted 14 SEP 2003	Here is a picture of the tent that Honey was staying in until they built permanent quarters.
Posted 14 SEP 2003	Here is a picture of Emma with a small portion of the money that she and Angel Brito have been delivering.
Posted 14 SEP 2003	I asked Em last time we talked if she could adopt the little girl holding the boy about to cry. She said that there were the kids of the contractors who were working on one of the schools.
31 OCT 2003	ABSOLUTELY AMAZING NEWS!!!! Emma is going to get to come home for two weeks!!!! Yeah!!!! She departs Iraq for Kuwait on 22 NOV 2003. She should arrive in the states on or about 25 NOV 2003 and have 14 days stateside before she needs to get back to her departure point.
02 NOV 2003	They now have internet/phone center setup so that soldier, Emma in particular, can login to get email and also do instant messaging. Yeah!!! We were able to chat for a couple of hours so far to discuss preliminary plans for her mid tour. It looks like we are going to spend Thanksgiving in FL with Mike and Myra. Also it looks like JC, Emma's brother and maybe Marylin TOO, will be down to spend it with us.
07 NOV 2003	The plans have been set into motion. I'll be flying out on Friday 21 Nov to FL to await the arrival of my Honey!!! We'll be returning on or about Dec 1 and spend the remainder of her leave her in Colorado Springs.
10 DEC 2003	*POUT* Emma is on her way back to Iraq. She left yesterday at 1740 Mountain time. She is currently waiting on a plane to start the journey across the ocean and back to the area of operation. At this time, she has no idea of when she'll be arriving in Kuwait but is supposed to call as soon as she can when she lands. I'll send out an email letting everyone know that she's returned safe and sound. Emma brought home some disposable cameras so I have 3 rolls of film of which I'll be posting a few to the website and if anyone is interested I can make them available on the FTP site. Just drop me an email.
22 MAR 2004	Yeah!!! Emma is finally out of Iraq. She and the group that are flying with her are in Europe as of 8:24 MST refueling. They should be taking off in about an hour to somewhere on the east coast to refuel and complete the last leg of their journey back to Colorado Springs and Ft. Carson. Yeah!!!
23 MAR 2004	Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Honey is home. Her plane landed in Colorado Springs around 2130-2200. They were at the Special events center at about 12:15 on 23 MAR 2004 and were releasee about 5-10 min later. Yeah!!!! Honey is Home!!!!

CPT(P) Emma L. Toops Update Page