Cameron West graduated North Georgia University in 2008. He commissioned as a 2nd Lt in the USMC and was stationed in Virginia for a year. There, he attended The Basic Course and Infantry Officer’s Course. He was then stationed at Camp Pendleton with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines 1st Marine Division. In 2010, he deployed to a Taliban stronghold in the Sangin Valley in Afghanistan.

On Oct. 15, 2010, Marine Captain Cameron West was leading a hunt for Taliban insurgents when he received intel on enemy activity. At the time Lt. West was leading the platoon 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.

Cameron was in rehabilitation at Balboa Naval Hospital for two years learning to walk again. 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. He transitioned out of the Marine Corps in 2013.

He bought 160 acres of river bottom land and turned 15 acres of pasture into 60 with a track loader and 30 horsepower tractor. He cleared land, extending pastures and built fences until the land was suitable for his own herd of cattle. He now runs a registered Black Angus herd of cattle for replacements for other cattlemen.

His loving wife, Madison, is a Marriage and Family Therapist and they have 3 kids Ella James (3) and Robert Thornton (2) Ethan Bull West (1).

In his spare time, Cameron volunteers for Homes For Our Troop’s, a nonprofit that builds specially adaptive homes for the nations most severely wounded veterans. He also volunteers with the nonprofit Semper Fi Fund and was part of the first visitors to the hospitals of the Boston Bombing victims in 2012. He is most proud of volunteering as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for children in the foster care system due to their removal from their home. A long term goal of Madison and Cameron’s is to start a nonprofit for teaching underprivileged children and children in the foster care system the ins and outs of caring for animals and exposing them to a working ranch.