(Fort Benning, Georgia) Today is Veterans Day—an annual holiday dedicated to honoring the men and women who have served in all U.S. wars, past and present. It’s a day to remember their courage, sacrifice, and dedication to our country.
This is the true story of one of those veterans—Army Specialist Nathan Allen, a 2006 graduate of Atlantic High School, who experienced intense combat while serving in Afghanistan.
In March 2011, then–23-year-old Allen, from Atlantic, Iowa, was seriously injured after being struck by enemy gunfire during combat operations. The firefight claimed the lives of five fellow soldiers.
Allen’s unit had been sent into a mountain valley with a mission to help shut down a Taliban radio tower. Serving as the diversion, his team was the first to land in the middle of the night. Their orders were to draw enemy attention while another group worked on the opposite side of the mountain range to complete the main objective. Almost immediately upon landing, Allen’s unit came under heavy fire.
“We started collecting the three or four casualties we had at that point and got them out,” Allen recalled. “Then, as daylight came, we pushed forward and kept going with the mission.”
A few hours later, Allen and his unit received devastating news.
Despite the tragic news, Nathan Allen’s platoon had to press on. He says suddenly, gunfire broke out across the valley, and they sprinted to a safe house. There was a total of 15 soldiers, and one of their team members accidentally sprinted down a rock wall for cover. Moments later, they heard he had been hit. Specialist Allen and another team member headed out to rescue one of their own.
A helicopter transported Specialist Allen to a combat hospital in critical condition, and eventually to a hospital in Germany, and back to America. Retired as Army Sergeant Nathan Allen. Nathan earned a “Purple Heart.”
Today, inspired by the flight medic who saved his life in Afghanistan, Nathan Allen is a firefighter and paramedic at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia.
Nathan and his wife, Jen, have two young boys.
Thank you for your service, retired Army Sergeant Nathan Allen.
