All We Want for Christmas is to See Our Emily!

We leave tomorrow to go to see Emily. Logan is so excited to see his momma! It has been a long road for my sweet sister, but SHE DID IT!!! On December 7, 2007 Private Johnson is graduating from Boot Camp!
I am so proud of her and can't wait to tell her that face to face! Over the past few weeks I was able to talk to Emily more than I ever imagined would have been possible while she was in boot camp. It is so exciting EVERY time my phone rings and it says (803).....I even woke up at 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday to talk to her because I am thrilled when she calls. Last week Emily did the Final stage of Boot Camp called Victory Forge. Here is some information from the Fort Jackson site about what that is:

Victory Forge is a 7-day field training exercise combining all previously taught basic combat training skills. It is the culmination of basic training. Soldiers are continuously challenged on all the skills learned throughout the nine-week training cycle.

Day 1 - Pre-Combat Inspections (PCI), prepare and produce an operations order (OPORD)

Day 2 - 10-Kilometer foot march, quartering party procedures, occupy a position and establish a defensive perimeter, conduct tactical feeding, introduction to night operations and rest plans

Day 3 - Conduct "Stand-To", undergo Nuclear, Biological and Chemical training, issue a squad-level OPORD, defensive operations, conduct troop-leading-procedures, go through the Teamwork Reaction Course, conduct squad-sized tactical exercises and a night tactical exercise

Day 4 - Same as Day 3

Day 5 - Same as Day 4

Day 6 - Recover from the defense, conduct PCI/stretch, issue squad and platoon-level OPORD, move to and conduct the Night Infiltration Course, execute the Live Fire Night Infiltration

Day 7 - Conduct PCI and ensure personnel and equipment accountability, 15-Kilometer foot march, participate in an After Action Review, and after-operations maintenance which culminates with the Rites of Passage Ceremony symbolizing the transition from Soldier-in-Training to Soldier in the United States Army.

Now for a little math...how many miles is a kilometer? Emily has been talking kilometers for a week, and I should have looked this up a long time ago.....1.6 Kilometers=1 mile.

SO....if you read the information about it said on day 7 they made a 15 kilometer march which is about 10 miles!!! Can you imagine how in shape Emily is?! I will post lots of pics FOR SURE!

I may have said this in a previous blog, but I am not good at posting on this often, because when it comes down to it I would rather write Emily than write on the blog....but I am making it a personal goal to update this thing once a week from now on....I am not making promises, but am sharing my personal writing goal with you.

I am so thankful for everyone who is praying for my sister and her future and safety. Please be praying that she is stationed somewhere safe and a place that will be a wonderful experience for her. Hawaii and California sound nice! She is so brave and has told me more than once that if she is sent to Iraq that she will be ok....and I expect her to say that because she is so strong, BUT I, on the other hand am NOT as strong as her and would be so worried and miss her so badly, as I am sure any of you reading this would as well. Please be praying with Logan and I. More to come.....

Sad Realization....

My phone is just not great and I discovered today that I have missed several of Emily's calls. Her first message she sounded very down....I feel like a horrible sister. I know she needed someone to talk to. The first weeks of boot camp are supposed to be awful. Her other message was more positive. She is loving the letters and wants more pics of her boy! I am so bummed and upset because I know she could use some love and encouragement. I am praying she calls again very soon.....*sniffle*

I am not great at updating so I am behind. I have spoken to Emily once since she has been in Boot Camp. She sounded great! She was very excited to tell me that she had her gun and she even had to sleep with it. She sounded very positive. I have not received any letters from her about her troop and what is going on with her in Fort Jackson, so I don't have enough specifics for everyone about what she is doing, if she has made some friends and how she is holding out. If you don not have her address please post a message to me and I will get it to you so that you can write. I want her to be flooded with letters. I have set this blog up so that the posts have to be approved by me before they are posted so as soon as I see your post I will reply to you with her address. I am not posting her address on the public part of the blogspot because I don't want some anti-war person seeing her address and sending something mean.

From Momma to Logan

WE GOT OUR FIRST LETTERS FROM MOMMA TODAY!!!!!
Momma wrote Logan:
Hey my sweet boy! Man your mama misses you! I love you so so so so much! Mama is still at the army being a soldier. I hope your doing YOUR job! Remember to take good care of Kiki and protect her. Practice real hard in school and draw lots of picture for mama. Be a good boy and say your prayers every night. I love you! Be a strong Man and mama will talk to you real soon! I LOVE YOU!! I LOVE YOU!! I LOVE YOU!!

Love Always,
Mama

P.S. Who Loves You More Than Anybody in the World?
YO MAMA!
Give me sum!!!

Phone Calls

This past week I heard from Emily 4 different times. Unfortunately 2 of the phone calls I missed because I was working, but she sounded very weary in her messages. The first phone call (a voice mail I received after my lunch break) was in regards to needing her marriage license faxed over. She sounded very tired and I was afraid she was regretting her decision, but thankfully when I did speak to her a couple of days later she was just ready to get to Boot Camp. She was actually shipped to procession before Boot Camp and could not be shipped out until she received her marriage license. During the second phone call it was very obvious that she was being monitored. She was not really allowed to talk about much more than needing her marriage license and telling me where to fax it. I can imagine that her drill sergeant wasn't very gracious to her for forgetting to bring that with her.
Yesterday I was able to speak to Private Johnson for about 10 minutes. She was injured last week when jogging down a hill outside. She was in a line with her platoon and some girls who were goofing off started a domino effect knocking everyone down. Emily was injured in this accident and was unable to ship out with her platoon at the end of that week. It turns out that her injury probably saved her from being in a Platoon that at this point is not doing very well in Boot Camp. She said she has made a few new friends while in procession and is looking forward to shipping out Tues (Oct. 2nd) or Wed. (Oct 3rd).
I pray for her everyday and am so proud of her. I visited a war memorial this past weekend and was filled with so much pride. My little sister is doing such a beautiful and honorable thing and I am so happy to say that she is MY sister.

Emily-Army Strong and we are Army Proud!

Emily Dawn Johnson, currently known in South Carolina's Fort Jackson Boot Camp as Private Johnson, shipped out for the Army on Thursday, September 20, 2007. Having struggled for the past 8 years to get her life together she was excited to join the armed forces and get a new start. I was able to spend about a week with her before she shipped out and it was an amazing time for our relationship. Emily's 3 year old son, Logan is currently staying with me and my family while Emily is away and we are so excited to have some quality time with this sweet boy. Logan will be featured frequently here so that Emily can see what her son has been up to as each week passes. Thank you for reading this blog. Your prayers and comments are treasured. I am so proud of her and look forward to updating everyone on how she is doing. She will be writing me as soon as she is allowed and I will update this blog as I hear from her.

Week 1 of Boot Camp

Boot Camp....Of course my first question, was ARE THEY GOING TO CUT YOUR HAIR! The answer is no. Girls get lucky in that sense, they do not have to cut their hair, but they do have to keep it off of their necks during boot camp. That was Emily's first question for her recruiter when she went into the Army office. It would have been a much harder recruit for Sergeant Rivera if the haircut had been required. The first 4-5 days of boot camp is all processing. From what was explained to Emily there would be a lot of standing in line and plenty of time to listen to the Ipod Michelle Mathis gave her before she left. For those of you who don't know Emily, she loves to sing and loves to dance. I picture her in line with her Ipod dancing like crazy and making lots of people laugh....I am sure this is very unrealistic....it is probably not quite that fun. Until I hear otherwise we can all think of that for now. :)
I was able to attend Emily's final swear in at the MEPS building in downtown Houston. It was very special to be a part of that. I have included a video of Emily swearing in. Logan did very well with his goodbyes....better than his Kiki (that's me). I was teary, but they were proud tears. I was so excited to see Emily make such an amazing decision for her life and I look forward to getting her first letter. Until then....