Father, son soldiers reunite in Kuwait

HUDSON – Thousands of miles away, Kuwait is not the first place one would think of holding a family reunion. But that’s just what happened when American soldiers George and Ben Allen found out that they both would be in Kuwait last Sunday.

“Just call your father as soon as you get in and we’ll hopefully see what can happen,” Lisa Allen told her son Ben on the phone before his arrival overseas.

The father and son and were able to arrange a four-hour visit this past weekend after Ben’s unit landed in Kuwait for a brief stay before heading to Iraq today. George Allen, 42, is a Black Hawk helicopter pilot with the 112th Medical Company (Air Ambulance) of Bangor. His 20-year-old son, Ben Allen, is a member of the 152nd field artillery unit but has been retrained as military police.

Ben Allen completed boot camp last July, while his father reached 20 years of military service at about the same time.

George Allen was able to come home for almost two weeks at Christmas, and is scheduled to head back to the States next month. He should be in Maine by mid-April after being overseas for nearly a year, his wife said.

Initially, Ben wanted to join the same unit as his father, Lisa Allen said. When there wasn’t an opening with the 112th, he chose another route.

“He just wanted to go,” Lisa Allen said.

When she first heard that both her husband and son would be on the front lines, Lisa Allen said, her heart sank. Fortunately, she said, she hasn’t been alone.

“I’ve had some good support,” Lisa Allen said of her family. The Allens also have two daughters, Jessie, 21, and Kari, 18. Neither woman has any desire to join their father and brother in the military ranks, their mother said.

With loved ones overseas, Lisa Allen said she tends to listen to the news a little more closely and finds that people are often putting newspaper articles in front of her detailing the most recent Iraqi-conflict headlines.

Thoughts of her husband and son are always on her mind, but Lisa Allen said that she tries to keep up a normal routine.

“[We’re] taking it one day at a time,” she said. “That’s pretty much all we can do.” The family waits for phone calls, letters and e-mails and sends care packages with goodies and snacks when possible.

“It’s always on my mind, but [I] just keep busy and work and hang around family and friends,” Lisa Allen said.

When she spoke with her husband on the phone Monday, Lisa Allen asked whether such a reunion of father and son were likely to occur again. George Allen wasn’t hopeful, and his answer was honest.

“It’s too hard to say goodbye again,” he said.