During a recent Allen West town hall meeting, a retired Lt. Colonel who is running for Congress in Florida's 22nd district, a disenfranchised voter in attendance stood up and told him she is not voting for anyone this year until they gave them a personal incident in their lives that shows their personal integrity and honor, the following was his response:
Well it's very simple. You know I think a lot of people know what happened in my military career in 2003, when I put my career on the line. When people came down and ask me if I'd do it again, I gave them one simple response: If it's about the safety and the lives of our men - I'll go through hell with a gasoline can. Now, I know there are a lot of people who are going to try and cast me in a negative light and call me all kinds of different things, but the bottom line is this; I still get phone calls from those soldiers. I get phone calls from his wives, I get pictures of their children-- and that enables me to know that I can look myself in the mirror because when it was about my life, and my career, and my personal comfort-- I said it's not the point. I think if there's anything that will bring pride and honor to my parents, because the day that I was commissioned as a Second Lieutanant on the 31st of July in 1982, my father was a World War II veteran and my brother was a Vietnam War veteran, looked at me and said, "Lieutenant West, you have one responsiblity: and that is to take care of your men. And I think that I was able to do that. (h/t Cubachi)