Joseph Allen

"So how do I look?" "Like one of the bad guys."

- PFC. Joseph Allen and General Shepherd

Private First Class Joseph Allen (AKA Alexei Borodin) is a playable character and the main protagonist in the early part of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. He is introduced in "S.S.D.D." helping Sergeant Foley train local Afghan resistance fighters at Firebase Phoenix in Afghanistan. He then undergoes a selection phase for Task Force 141, running "The Pit", prior to engaging local OpFor troops immediately after. He is then hand-picked by Shepherd to go undercover in Vladimir Makarov's cell under the alias Alexei Borodin.

Allen was killed by Makarov when attempting to escape from Zakhaev International Airport in the level "No Russian", having learned about his real identity. He became a victim of a conflict of goals between General Shepherd and Makarov. It is interesting to note that his voice is heard later in the game after he has been picked for Task Force 141, making him the one of the few playable characters Call of Duty to be heard (another example of which is the Thermal Imaging TV Operator in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare). Before joining the Rangers, he lived in Ithaca, NY.

Locations

 * Firebase Phoenix, Afghanistan - Assisted in the training of local military forces, participated in combat operations IVO Firebase Phoenix.


 * Red Zone, Afghanistan - Helped take control of small Afghan school and town.


 * Zakhaev International Airport, Moscow - Participated in CIA-sponsored deep-cover infiltration of Makarov's inner circle; compromised and killed by Makarov.

Trivia

 * PFC.Allen is the only character in the Call of Duty series to be in three different factions (CIA, Army Rangers, and Task Force 141.)


 * The name Alexei Borodin might be a reference to the first Call of Duty game, because of the fact that the first playable Russian character's first name is Alexei, and the first person the player meets has the last name "Borodin".
 * Another possibility is that the name Alexei Borodin is a reference to Russian composer Alexander Borodin.


 * Along with Allen, "Soap" MacTavish is given a large speaking role.


 * He is one of two playable characters in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 whose bare hands are seen; the other character being James Ramirez in "Second Sun", although Ramirez's hands were only seen through tears in his gloves.


 * The tattoos on Allen's chest that were added as part of the operation are Russian Prison tattoos. The cathedral is symbolic of how long a person has been in prison, with each steeple representing a sentence. The cathedral itself may be a representation of Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow.


 * Joseph Allen was age 22 when he died making his estimate birth year around 1994.


 * PFC. Allen was the third youngest playable character (after C. Miller and Aleksandr Sokolov, both 20) and the youngest to die up to date.


 * It is safe to assume Allen was fluent in Russian before the events of S.S.D.D. and Team Player as he was chosen to be part of Makarov's op and language would have been a large part of playing the role of a Ultranationalist initiant.


 * It is rumored that Allen is the multiplayer announcer for the Rangers.


 * It is rumored that in the reveal trailer for Modern Warfare 2, that there was an early design for Allen as he is not wearing a suit but just civilian clothes like the Task Force 141 members in Takedown.