Cameron West was born and raised in Acworth, Georgia and decided at an early age he wanted to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and join the United States Marine Corps. He attended North Georgia College and State University in Dahlonega, Georgia where he studies history and social science. NGCSU is one of the six senior military colleges of the country and he proudly participated in the Corps of Cadets while also attending the USMC PLC program his junior summer. In 2008 he commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the United States Marine Corps. After attending The Basic School and attending Infantry Officers Course he was stationed at Camp Pendleton with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division. In late 2010 he deployed to a Taliban stronghold in the Sangin Valley in southern Afghanistan.
On Oct. 15, 2010, Cameron West was leading his platoon to remove the Taliban insurgents from their opium production when a pressure plate improvised explosive device (IED) was triggered causing a massive explosion. The blast hurled Capt West into the air, taking his right leg and severely damaging the left. He also sustained damage and partial use to his right hand and arm and lost the vision in his right eye. Only due to the fact his young Marines moved swiftly and without concern for their own lives was then Cameron extracted safely out of the combat zone.
Cameron spent the following 2 years at Balboa Naval Hospital learning to walk again and regain his strength. He was then stationed back at Camp Pendleton as the Commander of The Instructor Group at The School of Infantry as a Captain in 2012 where he was able to proudly serve back alongside many of the same Marines that saved his life. He was medically retired and transitioned out of the Marine Corps in 2013.
After retirement he moved back to the southeast and bought 160 acres of river bottom land on the Georgia /Alabama state line and turned a neglected and overgrown piece of raw land into a cattle ranch using a CAT 963 Loader and 40 horsepower tractor. He spent 2 years clearing 80 acres of pasture , constructing 10,000 feet of fence along with a cattle corral, and built a shop and small house where he now runs his own herd of black angus cattle.
Cameron has been graced with 3 kids who are Honored to carry the names of passed Marines; Ella James(8), Robert Thornton(7) and Ethan Bull(4). He is fortunate to be able to coach both of his sons baseball teams and cheer in his daughter as she is a cheerleader for the 3rd grade Buccaneers football team and part of her schools Pirate Council. Cameron could not be more proud of his 3 children that participate in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with him and he teaches them to push their own personal limits by competing in BJJ competitions where he has medaled.
In his spare time Cameron volunteers and is on the Board of Directors for Homes For Our Troops, a wonderful nonprofit that builds specially adaptive homes for the nations most severely wounded veterans. He also enjoys volunteering with the nonprofit Semper Fi Fund and was part of the first visitors to the hospitals of the Boston Bombing victims in 2012. Currently SFF along with Cameron and another Marine amputee are working to start a program in advising and mentoring the wounded and affected Ukrainian soldiers and their families from their war with Russia. He is most proud of volunteering as a Court Appointed Special Advocates for children in the foster care system and believes every child should have someone to fight for them. In February 2023 he was honored to hike and summit Mount Kilimanjaro with Adam Kisielewski and Steven Curry, past Boots for the Brave attendees.
In January 2022 he met and fell in love with Victoria Simmons (Tori). Tori comes from a long line of farmers and foresters from southeast Georgia where her Centennial family farm produces pecans and timber. She studied Landscape Architecture and Horticulture at the University of Georgia, later working for the Atlanta Botanical Garden. She presently works for a private company in Atlanta, Georgia, but dreams of managing wildlife and native plant conservation efforts at her family farm. She has a spunky 4 year old daughter named Liberty and when they aren’t creating upheaval and general depravity in Cameron’s life, they like to hike and garden and have a great time outdoors with Cameron and his kids.
