MARCH 28: AN army wife has polished up her computer skills so she can send daily emails to her husband in Iraq.

Celia Mannings, 35, has become accustomed to life as a soldier's wife as her husband, Spencer, has been serving in the forces for more than ten years.

But she admits feeling anxious at the time of any major conflict and sends daily messages to the field to help settle her nerves.

She has not received any replies since March 18 but keeps sending emails so there are some waiting for her husband when he next has access to a computer.

Mrs Mannings said: "I feel bad if I don't do it. I tell him what the boys are doing, what I bought at Sainsbury's and everyday sorts of things.

"I was worried that he was getting bored with this daily rant but he wrote back and said it made him feel closer to us and made him feel good," she added.

"He told me that he wouldn't be able to send messages for a while because the inevitable was happening." Major Mannings is serving with the 21 Signal Regiment based in Colerne.

He was one of 200 personnel who were deployed a month ago and are dotted around ten different locations, providing communications for the RAF helicopter fleet.

The Army hold weekly meetings with wives left behind at Azimghur Barracks to keep them updated about the regiment's progress.

Mrs Mannings said: "On the whole morale among the army families is quite high but some individuals are quite worried and frightened."

Major Mannings, who has served in Northern Ireland and Bosnia, married Celia in 1996 and they have two children, Matthew, five, and Christopher, four.

His wife said: "I show the children pictures of tents and the desert, but they are too young to understand much.

"I have been warned that he could be away for as long as six months."