The Snohomish County Republican Party is hosting a Lincoln Day Dinner that features retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Allen West as the keynote speaker. The dinner will be March 27 at the Xfinity Conference Center, 2000 Hewitt Ave., Everett.

Doors open at 5 p.m. with a silent auction until 6:30 and the dinner program from 6:30-9:30 p.m.

West was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia 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 Army career, West served in several combat zones: in Operation Desert Storm; in Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he was a Battalion Commander in the Army’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 US Army ROTC Instructor of the Year.

After his retirement from the Army in 2004, West 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 2010, West was elected to the U.S. Congress, representing Florida’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, a Senior Fellow at the London Center for Policy Research, and regularly writes for numerous media outlets.

You can purchase tickets via the Snohomish County Republican Party website or at the county office, 514 State Ave., Suite 109 in Marysville. Questions? Call 360-653-1100 or email chair@snocogop.org.