Veteran amputee finds purpose after battle
By Joe Ripley
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KENNESAW, Georgia (WXIA) — Kennesaw Mountain has seen its fair share of history and its fair share of battles. Captain Cameron West (Ret.) followed his family lineage and signed up for service seven years after September 11, 2001.
West said both of his grandfathers served in the military, which helped inspire the Acworth native to join the U.S. Marine Corps after engaging in the ROTC program at The University of North Georgia.
“Since about single-digit age, nine or ten, I had a letter written that I wanted to join the service and be a Marine,” West said. “It was tough at times. I mean, it’s mental toughness like anything in life. We all kind of struggle with different things throughout our lives: mental, emotional, physical.”
In 2010, West found himself in enemy territory. He was deployed to Afghanistan, where his life would change forever.
“Our battalion was put into a very hostile part of Afghanistan,” West said. “We were relieving a battalion that had taken a lot of hits. We knew going in it would be a tough deployment. We took a lot of casualties in the first three months.”
West said dozens of servicemembers were lost in the mission. The losses mounted. An explosion left him with injuries to his extremities, including the loss of a leg. West’s injuries ultimately brought him back to the U.S., where he retired in 2013.
West credited the Semper Fi and America’s Fund for starting his road to recovery. Through the fund, West has made a living on the farm. He’s raising three daughters and has turned to raising cattle.
“I look at my injury as a gift, because it opened my eyes and mind to why I’m here and what I want my journey and chapters of life to look like in the future,” West said. “I was given a second chance. A lot of us were, and a lot were not. If you take that into consideration, the short answer is live your life I feel the best you can. Try to be kind and respectful to your fellow humans.”
After getting knocked down, West constantly gets back up to honor his family and fellow servicemen no matter the battle.
“If I’m able to limp around and tell a story and try and continue to let those names of the fallen Marines live on through our own individual legacies, I think I’ll have done a little bit of my part to keep it going,” West said. “We’ve got to do right by the boys and in their name, because we’ve got to continue to live on to the best of our ability in their names and not let their stories be forgotten.”
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