Allen West - Biography
Allen West was born and raised in Atlanta, Ga., in the same neighborhood where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached. He is the third of four generations of military servicemen in his family.
During his 22 year career in the United States Army, Lt. Col. West served in several combat zones: Operation Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he was a battalion commander in the Armyā€™s 4th Infantry Division, and later in Afghanistan. He received many honors including a Bronze Star, three Meritorious Service Medals, three Army Commendation Medals, and a Valorous Unit Award. In 1993 he was named the U.S. Army ROTC Instructor of the Year.
After his retirement from the Army in 2004, he taught high school for a year before returning to Afghanistan as a civilian military adviser to the Afghan army, an assignment he finished in November 2007.
In November of 2010, Allen was honored to continue his oath of service to his country when he was elected to the United States Congress, representing Floridaā€™s 22nd District. As a member of the 112th Congress, he sat on the Small Business and Armed Services Committees and was instrumental in passage of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act.
He is a Fox News contributor and a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research. He also regularly writes for numerous media outlets.
West is an avid distance runner, a master SCUBA diver and motorcyclist. His wife, Angela, holds an MBA and Ph.D. and is a financial planner. His older daughter, Aubrey, attends college in south Florida, and his younger daughter, Austen, is in high school.