As a child, Luke always knew he wanted to join the United States military. His father and uncles served in the Navy and he felt called to uphold his family’s tradition of service. However, he chose to join the Army and spent 25 years in the service, 15 years of which he spent in Special Operations as a Green Beret
It was clear that Luke enjoyed his time in the military up until he endured a life-changing incident. During a routine parachute jump training session his parachute collapsed resulting in him breaking his leg. This led to a series of infections and further injuries that contributed to his decision to retire from the Army in 2014 at the rank of E8 Master Sergeant.
Now, Luke Kittel is a parathlete who competes in Ironman's, Open Water Swims and runs nationwide.
A few months ago, Luke got an opportunity that he couldn't refuse: a challenge that will be both physically and mentally challenging, to join the Chris Long Foundation’s Conquering Kili 2024 Team.
Conquering Kili
The Conquering Kili program was set forth by The Chris Long Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing life-sustaining drinking water to communities in need through their Waterboys initiative. The goal of Conquering Kili is to empower current and former athletes, military combat veterans, and clean water advocates to unite for collective impact and better communities by climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.
As a True North Foundation-sponsored athlete, we are looking for your support to help Luke hit his goal.
The first $8,500 raised by Luke will be going to the Chris Long Foundation to help fund a deep borehole well in East Africa. Luke’s overall goal is to reach $50,000. All funds raised over $8,500 will be going to True North, where we will disperse it back into the veteran adaptive athlete community through grants to various athletes and organizations.
