Luke McConnell

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Luke McConnell

Luke McConnell
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Marine Corps
Rank	Captain
Unit	3rd Battalion, 1st Marines
Battles/wars	Operation Iraqi Freedom

Luke McConnell is currently a Captain in the United States Marine Corps. As per standard administrative procedure, he was initially removed of command of the Camp Pendleton-based Kilo Company 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines following an alleged November 2005 war crime in Haditha, Iraq, where Marines under his command were accused of having murdered 24 civilians after one of them had been killed in an insurgent attack. He was removed along with the commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey R. Chessani and Captain James Kimber according to a report by The Times on 29 May 2006. [1] Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich was the marine on patrol and is under investigation.

Charges against Captain McConnell have since been dismissed by Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, commander of the Marine Forces Central Command, after it was decided that any alleged "errors or omissions" made by the Captain would best be handled through an administrative process.

According to reports in a local newspaper, Captain McConnell grew up in Napa, California and graduated from Vintage High School in 1993, where he was the captain of the football team. After that he went to study at the US Naval Academy, graduating in 1997.^[1]^[2]