Jeff Falkel served in the U.S. Army for 16 years. His oldest son, Chris, always wanted to follow in his father's footsteps. Ever since Chris was 7 years old, he knew he wanted to go into the Army and knew he wanted to be a special forces soldier.
When he was first deployed to Afghanistan in 2004, Chris was given the nickname 'Junior' - but not because of his father.
"He was pumping his chest up," Jeff explained. "Because he was the 'senior bravo' and [his team] just put him in his place."
Chris quickly rose through the ranks, opting for a second deployment. Jeff said he had a bad feeling about his son's deployment this time around. Chris' team would soon come under fire in what ended up being 54 hours of combat against the Taliban.
"Chris turned around to shoot at whoever was shooting at him and a sniper shot him in the head and killed him instantly," Jeff told 9NEWS. His son was 22.
But Chris' heroic actions that day saved his entire team.
"There are 16 kids who have a dad now because of what Chris did. He did his job and he did it well," Jeff said.
Wanting a way to carry on his legacy, Jeff remembered a conversation he had with his son. In between deployments, Chris had mentioned he wanted to make pens out of hollowed out bullets, specifically the caliber bullets he used as a sniper in the Army.
"So for two years, the thought of making a bullet pen was kind of in the back of my mind and on the 22nd of September I figured out how to do it," Jeff said. "In 2007 on what would have been Chris' birthday, the 24th of September 2007, we started ‘Junior's Bullet Pen Company’."
Jeff makes hundreds if not thousands of pens every week in a company that continues to grow.
“That's why we're down here in the world headquarters - in the palatial basement - because the kitchen table was getting too small,” Jeff said.
The pens are made from once-fired military brass and orders come from all over the world.
“I've made over 400,000 pens and we've given out well over half a million dollars in cash and product to different special operations charities,” he said.
It's not tedious work for him because it's sitting in his basement - and he doesn't feel alone.
“He's with me all the time… I know it I can feel it," he said.
Chris was posthumously awarded the Silver Star. Jeff wrote a book about his son called the 'Making of Our Warrior'- you can find it on Amazon. To learn more about ‘Junior's Bullet Pens Company’ go to this link.