Bachelor Nation already knows that JoJo Fletcher doesn't choose Luke Pell to be her future husband, but that doesn't mean it's not worth learning more about this former Bachelorette suitor. Luke told JoJo about his time in the military during their first one-on-one date, so where did he serve? His job title was war veteran on his Bachelorette profile and he discussed his friend dying in action, so he bravely served overseas. With a little digging into Luke's life, you can easily discover that the man who had his heart broken by JoJo served in the military in the country of Afghanistan.
When discussing Alex's behavior during the Men Tell All, Luke talked about how people who serve in the military are taught to always be in the fight mode of the fight-or-flight response. He understands that firsthand since, according to Luke's LinkedIn profile, he served as platoon leader in Afghanistan from July 2008 to June 2009. When he began his service in Afghanistan, George W. Bush was the president with Barack Obama taking office in 2009. In its timeline of the war in Afghanistan, Frontline reported that in March 2009, President Obama announced a new strategy for defeating Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan that included increasing the number of US troops. That was more than halfway through Luke's service there.
America's war in Afghanistan ended in December 2014, but it was still the longest war in US history since it started in 2001. Luke might have only been in the war-torn country for a portion of this lengthy war, but 11 months is still a significant time — especially when serving your country. According to his LinkedIn profile, Luke prepared for his time in Afghanistan by attending West Point for four years and then taking courses at the US Army Field Artillery School.
Luke was not actually in Afghanistan when his friend who died in service was killed. For Memorial Day, Luke posted two photos of his friend — Jason Holbrook — on social media as a way to honor him and he noted that they had gone to high school together and that Holbrook was like a brother to him. Yet, Luke wasn't with him when he was killed in duty since Holbrook died in August 2010. However, as Luke showed when he told JoJo about him, that doesn't mean that it made the loss of his close friend any easier.
After his time in Afghanistan, Luke continued his service stateside as a fire direction officer, assistant operations officer, and then operations officer in Kentucky and Texas. In 2012, he left active duty as a captain and is currently listed as being a business owner on LinkedIn after working for almost two years in the oil industry. If you follow him on Instagram, then you also know that Luke is a musician (though he never advertised it on The Bachelorette like suitor James Taylor constantly did) and is pursing a country music career.
Beyond his service in the military and being an entrepreneur and a musician, Luke's next profession could be choosing a significant other since there have been discussions of him being the next Bachelor. And while the world will always know him as the sweet man who fell for JoJo before being sent home at an airplane hangar, his service in Afghanistan is something the public should also know about since he served the US military to help keep America safe.
Image: Felicia Graham/ABC
