It was the kind of call Mike and Deana Mobley dreaded receiving at their Highlands Ranch home.

Ryan, one of their identical twin sons serving in Iraq, phoned Wednesday morning to say he'd been hit by a roadside bomb.

"I'm calling you, Dad, because I don't want to get Mom upset,'" the 21-year-old Marine told his father.

"She worries just like any other mom would," Mike Mobley said today. "Ryan knew that she doesn't take that kind of news very well. As long as she knows he's OK, she doesn't need all the details."

Ryan, who is a week away from ending his Iraq tour, suffered a concussion, back injuries and ruptured ear drums when the improvised explosive device blasted their vehicle on a convoy.

Fortunately, he and his comrades were somewhat shielded by their armored personnel carrier.

"He said 'I was knocked out,' " the dad recalled. "When he came to, and heard small-arms fire, he and another guy crawled out and returned fire."

Then Ryan, his squad's leader, called in helicopters to evacuate the battered Marines.

"I don't want to make him sound like some hero," the dad added. "He's just doing his job."

Ryan called back today to update his parents from a hospital in Al Anbar province.

"I'm so sore today I can barely move," said Ryan, who was pinballed around the inside of the armored vehicle by the concussion, his father recounted.

"I'm going to be OK," Ryan told his dad, adding that he expects to get out of the hospital in a couple days.

This is the second close call for the Mobleys.

In February, their other twin son, Matt, an 82nd Airborne paratrooper, also was wounded by an IED. Surgeons removed nine pieces of shrapnel from his back and Matt returned to duty in 10 days.

Now, the parents are keeping their fingers crossed with both boys scheduled to return home soon.

Ryan will be readying next week for the 45-day voyage home on a troop ship. Matt is supposed to end his 15-month tour in late October.

"They're both going to be home for Thanksgiving," Mike Mobley said. "We're going to celebrate it with family in Texas."

gathrighta@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5486