Life a whirlwind since soldier's Iraq rescue
The happy homemaker is Kaye Young, who carries a wide smile and a touch of Southern charm.
Usually the jokes are just that — jokes.
To her horror, though, some playful words came true. Just as her son, Chief Warrant Officer Ron Young Jr., was getting ready to go to war, Kaye Young teased Ron about his uncertain future.
"I told him in a jest, I said, 'Don't go over there and get captured by those Iraqis. If you do, you'll know your momma is home crying,' " Kaye Young told the Deseret Morning News in an interview last week.
But that's just what happened. Ron Young was captured by Iraqi forces March 23 after his Army Apache helicopter crashed during fierce fire over Karbala, 50 miles southwest of Baghdad.
"I was just joking," said Kaye Young, who was in Salt Lake City this weekend to attend General Conference meetings for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "How unbelievable is it that that would really happen?"
Life has been a whirlwind for the Young family since Ron Young was saved April 13.
Ron Young stole the hearts of women across America when he was named to the most recent People magazine "25 Hottest Bachelors" list.
"He's had a lot of things happen that never would have without his experience," said Kaye Young, a mother of five. "It's just been unbelievable."
After Ron Young arrived in Iraq, Kaye Young's eyes were glued to the television. She dutifully watched reports on the war.
One report shook her soul. There had been a battle, one she knew her son was fighting in, and the reporter could not relay information about whether all the soldiers came back safe.
That's when her mother's intuition kicked in. And she knew something was wrong.
"It was like a piercing through my soul," Kaye Young said. "I started to pray and cry."
Then, a CNN reporter showed the pictures of Ron Young in captivity.
"That was always my worst fear, that he would become a prisoner of war," Kaye Young said. "I feared that more than him dying. I was just terrified because of what those people do to their own people."
Kaye Young was reluctant to look at the screen. She feared a pitiful picture of her son, beaten and bruised. But what she saw was a strong, resolute, stubborn, even angry man.
"It helped me not to see him looking pitiful," Kaye Young said. "I think that would have been more than I could stand. He really helped me in that way. He looked so strong and determined."
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