Although Ryan Conklin's mother was unable to speak to her son when he was first told that he was being recalled back to active duty in the Army, eventually the two did talk on the phone about it. Mrs. Conklin was interested in knowing if Ryan had made any connections with people who could help him determine if he could be excluded from the recall. She thought it might be possible for Ryan to get a medical waiver. Ryan had already decided that he would not contest his suitability, so he simply told her, "It's not in the cards, Mom."
That wasn't what she wanted to hear from her son, so she told him, "Well, you never know." He assured her, "I do know." She then explained that her optimism was based on what Ryan's brother Aaron had told her, that "they always call much more than they need for the initial mobilization."
Conceding the point, but letting her know why he would be taken, he replied, "I know, but I'm in fine physical health."
Mrs. Conklin knew that wasn't totally true and she reminded her boy, "With your knees as wobbly as they are?" Ryan explained that unfortunately that wouldn't matter since it was a normal comdition for an infantryman.
She tried to encourage him to to at least consider that there was more than one possible outcome to the Army's action, and that he might be able to influence which way it went if he had a mind to. With his view that things were destined for a reason, he resignedly concluded, "I have no decision in this, Mom."
So at that point Mrs. Conklin let Ryan know of some of the ideas that his family had come up with had Ryan been willing to go along. She said Aaron was willing to break Ryan's leg, and in the process release 23 years of pent-up fraternal anger. Ryan laughingly said, "If Aaron said that I'm going to punch him in the nose."
Getting back to the seriousness of the subject, Ryan expressed his concern about how his family was coping. He asked, "I can do it again, but can you guys? That's the only thing I'm worried about." Mrs. Conklin answered that he shouldn't worry about them, that they were good. Ryan didn't buy it, but didn't question it any further.
Mrs. Conklin ended by telling her baby, "Hang in there, buddy." He determinedly replied, "You know I will; I bounce back." She agreed and observed, "I know, you're tough -- tougher than all of us." Ryan disagreed a little: "Naw, just thick-skinned. I'm a weak child inside."
Mrs. C gave a final encouragement of "Be tough," and they exchanged their I-love-yous. With that Ryan knew that that which he held dearest would be okay, and he would focus on doing what he needed to do to return to them once more.
