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MOTHER AND SON ANSWER THE CALL.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard

The NY Yankees hat turned left of straight ahead, the smile on his face as bright as ever, James Davis looks like he's hardly got a care in the world.

Not quite accurate, it turns out.

There's the full load of hours to keep him on track to graduate from the University of Oregon in June. There's the new role as the sixth man for the Ducks. There's awaiting that next letter from his birth mother, who is currently serving with U.S. forces in Iraq.

Yeah, try that last bit of news thrown at a college senior, as it was for Davis a couple of months ago.

`I'm like, `Mom, they've got to shoot guns over there. What are you doing?' ' Davis recalled of his initial reaction. `She's about 5-foot-3, the sweetest little lady in the world. ... I just can't see my mom doing it, but she sounds like she's enjoying it.'

Who ever considered this eventuality? `She's been in the reserves for a while, where she does her weekend thing,' Davis said.

But this? Like a few thousand other reservists and guardsmen who found themselves bound for Iraq when their units were activated, Katherine Bates dealt with all the turmoil it created for her, and a family that includes the Oregon senior.

It's just not quite what Davis expected to be hearing, nor is it all he's adjusting to these days.

Consider going from a starter as a junior on an NCAA Tournament team to a reserve as a senior, on a team with similar goals. `It's tough,' Davis said, but then he sounded like the three-year letterman and captain that he is on this...

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