[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9365-9366]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  THANKING ARMY RESERVE LT. JEFF ALLEN

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, tomorrow is a very special day for two 
little twin brothers in Rapid City, South Dakota. Ethan and Abraham 
Allen turn 2 tomorrow. Among the people who will be there to celebrate 
with them is their father, Lt. Jeff Allen.
  Lt. Allen came closer than he likes to think to not seeing his sons' 
birthday. On April 6, he was in a convoy near Mosul, traveling south 
through Iraq, when a homemade bomb exploded under his Humvee. The 
explosion filled the calves on both of Lt. Allen's legs with shrapnel. 
His right ear drum was shattered, the retina in his right eye was torn, 
and he suffered serious lacerations on his face. He had been in Iraq 
for just under a month.
  Like more than 40 percent of the American troops in Iraq today, Lt. 
Allen is a reservist. He is a nurse anesthetist with the Army Reserve's 
348th Combat Support unit. When he is not on active duty, he works at 
Rapid City Regional Hospital. Like so many others civilian and 
military--he was in Iraq trying to save lives.
  Before he arrived home on Monday night, Lt. Allen spent a month at 
Brooks Army Medical Center in San

[[Page 9366]]

Antonio, where he underwent three surgeries, including skin grafts to 
his legs. He's likely to need more surgery, but doctors are hopeful 
about his recovery. He and his wife, Andrea, have been married for 6 
years. He has been in the Army Reserve for 5 years.
  At the beginning of our life as a nation, Thomas Paine said, ``If 
there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my children may have 
peace.'' America is fortunate today that we still have people, like Lt. 
Jeff Allen, who are willing to sacrifice so much and risk their lives 
so that their children will know peace. As he and his wife prepare to 
celebrate their sons' birthdays, we thank Lt. Allen and wish him a full 
and speedy recovery.

                          ____________________