For My High School Science Teacher Mr. Allen

I was 15 when I met 1LT Allen. But I knew him as Mr. Allen, my earth science teacher in high school. He joined the military after I graduated from high school and I had already moved to college. I had moved away the year after I had Mr. Allen, so I didn't know. It was only after I graduated from the Air Force Academy on 01 June 2005 that I found out from my friend, still living in New York, that our beloved teacher had been fragged in Iraq.

When I was at the Air Force Academy, I knew in my heart that my place in the military was not in the Air Force but in the Army. I put in my paperwork for a transfer and when I graduated I was a Second LT in the Army.

I am now a 1LT myself and in Iraq-just like Mr. Allen. I wear my teacher's name on my wrist every single day-and I pray for his family and his beautiful children especially now that his murderer is on trial.

I want to Thank you for producing these bracelets. Although they remind us that we are no longer with someone we love, every time I look at the bracelet I remember Mr. Allen sitting on the desk as he teaches a bunch of kids in high school.

Thank you!

1LT Mary Lynn
299 FSB, 2/1 ID
Baghdad, Iraq