Ok, I think we all know what's going down now, so I'll address what happened and is happening:

Over the past 2 days I have done some searches for background information on the names of the people involved, and have come up with nothing.  Not a single hit.  I went through the list of Army posts in Kentucky, and didn't get a hit at any of them on a 'Private Shawn Rae'.  'Emma Rae' was also nowhere to be found. 

It is my belief that 'Emma and Shawn Rae' are fictional characters.  It is also my belief that 'Alysia Leah Rae', infant child of Shawn and Emma is also fictional, as are the circumstances surrounding her birth and subsequent illness. 

There are numerous inconsistencies in the stories we have been told...from Emma and the baby being released from the hospital as quickly as they were after the birth, Emma not knowing what rank her husband is, him suddenly showing up on leave from Iraq, taking 3 month's leave from the military, Emma stating first that they live on base in a home with 5 bathrooms, then changing her story to saying that they live off base, the baby being critically ill one night and literally at death's door, her making a miraculous recovery the next day despite having been taken off the ventilator and life support..all the way through to the picture Shawn emailed me to post being titled 'Ashlee_026'.

I also find it curious that despite having a critically ill infant, Shawn and Emma both managed to find the time to blog and joke about what people are wearing.  Still more curious is the fact that either of them have yet to show their faces here to defend the person we feel is responsible.  Emma has been quick to defend this person in the past, yet she hasn't shown up in her defense yet?  I don't buy it.

There was an easy way for all this to have been resolved:  I asked the person I felt was responsible for the name of the hospital the baby was in and the name of the post they are stationed at.  I have yet to recieve a response.  I have also been blacklisted from that person's blog.  Had they provided me with that information, I could have verified that it was true (the person denied they were lying and that they were responsible in an earlier post) and all this would have gone away.  I would have apologized for doubting, and that would have been that.

To the person we believe to be responsible for perpetuating these lies:

I want you to know that I'm not angry at you.  I have a problem with what you did because you drew so many decent people into this and played them for fools.  I think that there are some subjects that you just don't lie about, no matter what the circumstances, and that this is one of them.  I want to believe that you started this out with the most innocent of intentions, and that it got out of control...because to believe that you intended for it to go this far and to get so many people involved emotionally...well, that's horrible.  I would like to talk to you one-on-one about it, and if you would like to do that my email address is on my blog page.  I'm not going to be mean or nasty, I just want to understand why you did it. 

My best advice to you now is to come clean and apologize.  You've done it before, you can do it again.  Just don't expect people to be as forgiving this time.  You have left a lot of folks feeling slightly idiotic (myself included because I didn't come out with what I was feeling earlier) and people aren't going to get over that as quickly. 

That's all I have to say about that.

Amitty....what part of the above response don't you understand?  It's pretty self-explanatory, isn't it?

I case there are other people who don't get it, see the above post, and I'll add this:  I believe that a teenage blogger named Ashlee Ryder created these characters and perpetuated the whole lie. 

There, does that make more sense now?

This is what went down this afternoon...I was online and saw Emma there....the following is a copy of the conversation:

dharmagirl69: hello, Ashlee.
simple_things22: Ashlee?
dharmagirl69: opps, emma.
dharmagirl69: is that what you prefer to be called?
simple_things22: yes, considering that is my name
dharmagirl69: what post are you at, and what battallion is your husband in?
dharmagirl69: and what;s his MOS?
dharmagirl69: do my questions bother you?
simple_things22: yes, because i really don't think its any of your business
dharmagirl69: honey, you made it my business.
simple_things22: how the hell did i make it your business
dharmagirl69: when you went online and played us all for fools, you made it ALL of our business.
simple_things22: played you for fools?
dharmagirl69: all you have to do to end this suspicion is tell me which post your at, shawn's batallion and his MOS.
dharmagirl69: give me some verifiable information.
dharmagirl69: yes, emma, played us all for fools.
dharmagirl69: but you don't want to do that because it's none of our business, right?
simple_things22: right
dharmagirl69: oh, and you should be aware that I have enabled message archiving.  Just to let you know.
dharmagirl69: I think that you're busted, sweetie.  You might want to give it up.
simple_things22: i'm under a lot of stress right now, and this is the last thing i needed. If you all want to have a problem, fine.
simple_things22: so you think your cool? because you enabled message archiving??? wow.. that took a lot to do that
dharmagirl69: No, Emma, I mean Ashlee....I mean that what you say to me here is being archived.
simple_things22: i know
simple_things22: i'm not stupid
dharmagirl69: and is will probably be posted on my blog.
simple_things22: and its Emma
dharmagirl69: sure Emma.  whatever you want to be called.
dharmagirl69: got a post Bn and MOS for me yet?
dharmagirl69: Better hurry up and go look one up.  Because I'll be verifying it.
simple_things22: you know what, i don't have time for your stupid games
simple_things22 has signed out. (7/23/2004 1:48 PM)

I have it archived so it can be verified as correct and unaltered.

It just seems to silly to me that she could end this all with something so simple.  Some verifiable information is all I'm asking for.  That's it.  I'm not asking for a SSN, a bank account numer, a home phone number....all I'm asking for is information that will verify she is who she says she is.  They've already given out their names...surely it's not too much to ask?

That's what I have been asking myself.  All I want is some information that I can verify.  That's all.  She won't give me any.  Neither will Ashlee.  I asked for the post they were stationed at and the hospital the baby was in, and she blacklisted me. 

'Miss Marple'..hehe, I'm a trainee PI.  My husband's a detective.  It's kind of ingrained anymore!

And that's exactly when I knew.  That all of our suspicions were correct and she was fabricating the entire deal.  She can post details of the lives, their sexual activities on the web for everyone to see, but she can't tell me, someone who she had IM'd with before and considered a 'friend' what post they're at.  All I would have done was call the post locator, and asked them to verify that there was a Pvt Shawn Rae at that base, and at the batallion she gave me.  The MOS part was mainly for Shawn, I wanted to see if he knew what it was/is.  Not too much to ask, huh?  Not like I'm asking for his SSN or their bank acct info. 

 The name of the hosptial where the baby was would have been nice too, although I should have gone about that a different way.  I should have said that I wanted to send flowers...I wonder what the response would have been then?! 

Hmm.....I wonder why that is?  Most people are more than happy to receive little things for their baby...cards, gifts, etc. 

Curiouser and curiouser.....