Joseph Allen

"So how do I look?"

"Like one of the bad guys."

Private First Class Joseph Allen 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 prior to engaging local OpFor troops. He is then hand-picked by Shepherd to go undercover in Vladimir Makarov's cell under the alias Alexei Borodin.

Allen is killed by Vladimir Makarov when attempting to escape from Zakhaev International Airport, having learned about his real identity. He becomes the victim of a conflict of goals between General Shepherd and Makarov. It is interesting to note that his voice is heard later on in the game after he has been picked for Task Force 141, making him the one of the few Call of Duty playable characters 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.

Location

 * Firebase Phoenix, Afghanistan - Assisted in the training of local military forces, participated in combat operations IVO Firebase Phoenix.
 * Zakhaev International Airport, Moscow - Participated in CIA-sponsored deep-cover infiltration of Makarov's inner circle; compromised and killed by Makarov

Trivia

 * If you run just before you get killed, and even if you hide behind a wall, Makarov will still shoot (and kill) you despite being unable to see you.
 * 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.
 * He is one of the few playable characters in the Call of Duty series that can be heard speaking. His voice can be heard in a conversation with Shepherd in the cutscene before Cliffhanger.
 * 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 either a year or a sentence. The cathedral itself may be a representation of Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow.
 * Joseph Allen was aged 22 and was born in 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 iniant.
 * One reason Shepherd might have picked Allen is because he could speak fluent Russian.