When we last left Joe Allen, he was stationed in Korea in the U.S. Army. While hoops dreams danced in his head, the United States was attacked halfway around the world. Joe woke up on Sept. 11, 2001 to find the world wasn’t the same one he had left the night before.

Joe was facing a dangerous future. He had joined the Army to do something with his life instead of becoming just another has-been high school basketball player. With no future working at the liquor store, he signed his life away for three years to give it some meaning.

That decision now seemed a lot more reckless than it had on Sept. 10. Joe’s job was to drive fuel around for troops. Islamic extremists had just attacked America. If the country were going to war, Allen would be headed to the last place in the world a fuel truck specialist wants to be.

Allen, however, didn’t freak out. He didn’t quiver at the thought of fighting.

“I knew that was a possibility the minute I signed up,” Joe said.

The base in Korea was on high alert for over a month and a half. Joe and his fellow soldiers weren’t allowed to leave their post for a month, and this made for a long September.

After things cooled down, Joe was packed again and leaving Korea to be closer to home. Not only that, the Army gave him something he never had from them before: a choice.

“When I left Korea, they gave me two options. I could go to Fort Lewis, Mo., or Fort Hood, Texas. While I knew deployment was a bigger possibility at Hood, I chose it because that was where All-Army basketball tryouts were held,” said Joe.

He had never given up on the dream. College basketball is a pipe dream for most boys who ever picked up a basketball. Not for Joe. He never even considered the possibility that he couldn’t hack it with the best of them.

The All-Army team had 12 roster spots open; 12 spots for over 150 basketball players. Joe Allen, who never played professionally, was gunning for a roster spot so he could woo college scouts who never had the chance to come to Milwaukee and see him play in high school.

He wasn’t the only one. Of the 150 soldiers who tried out, many of them had played professionally overseas. A lot of them had already finished D-I basketball and joined the Army because they didn’t get drafted into the NBA. One of them did play in the NBA. Joe had his work cut out for him.

Three-a-day workouts in the first week were more excruciating than any he had in training to fight for his country on a battlefield. Throughout the first week, Joe went through the motions. He did everything they asked and little by little, other men were dropping their basketballs to become full-time soldiers again.

Remarkably, Joe Allen had locked up a roster spot for himself. Over 125 players fell by the wayside, but Joe, who had no experience past high school, had triumphed. His 11 teammates all had at least D-I experience. He was in the peak physical shape of his life. Statuesque at 6’6”, 205 lbs., Allen was sporting a 47-inch vertical.

How did he stack up against the competition?

“I was just dunkin’ on people,” Joe said with a laugh.

The All-Army team mostly played junior colleges around the state of Texas, but the big time was the Armed Forces Games. Sort of a military version of the NCAA tournament, the Armed Forces Games are the highest form of competition in military basketball.

Starting for the Army, young Joe led the team all the way to the gold medal.

“It’s something I’m very proud of,” said Joe.

After the Games, the All-Army team was disbanded, and Joe went back to being a full-time soldier in November 2002. His heroics in the tournament weren’t forgotten, though. “I was kind of a hero in my unit,” Joe said later.

For the first time in a long time, Joe had some downtime. He spent it keeping up with friends back home and staying in shape. Political issues seemed to be unimportant at the time. At the end of January 2003, however, Joe Allen got wrenched back into the life of a soldier.

“That was when the orders came. I was going to Iraq.”

This was part 2 of the Odyssey of Joe Allen. Look for part 3 in next week’s edition of the Post.

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