Michael Burke, a native of Foxborough, Massachusetts is a graduate of Fairfield University in Connecticut. He completed Officers Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in 2003.
After graduating from The Basic Officer Course and Infantry Officers Course at The Basic School in 2004, he was assigned to 1st Battalion 5th Marines in Camp Pendleton, CA. During this time, he served as a rifle platoon commander with Company B and deployed to Ar Ramadi, Iraq in 2005. Upon redeployment to Camp endleton, Second Lieutenant Burke transferred to Weapons Company 1/5 and served as the 81mm Mortars Platoon Commander and TRAP Platoon Commander with the Battalion Landing Team on the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. In 2007, First Lieutenant Burke received orders to inspector-instructor duty with Machine Gun Platoon, Anti-Terrorism Battalion, 4TH Marine Division at Westover ARB in Chicopee, MA. From September 2008 to March 2009, he deployed to Al Anbar Province, Iraq when Machine Gun Platoon was activated to augment Task Force MP. During the deployment, he served as Executive Officer, Company D, 1st Battalion 12th Marines.
Captain Burke transitioned to the Individual Ready Reserve in 2010 and affiliated with Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 25th Marines in 2011. After the battalion redeployed from Afghanistan, Captain Burke initially served as the Weapons Company Executive Officer and Company Commander. In 2013, Captain Burke joined Naval Expeditionary Combat Command as a military advisor for Coastal Riverine Group 1 at Joint Expeditionary Base, Little Creek, VA. In 2018, Major Burke was transferred to Joint Enabling Capabilities Command in Norfolk, VA where he served as a joint planner in the Sustainment and Operations Functional Groups. During this tour, Lieutenant Colonel Burke was activated in May 2021 and deployed to Bahrain to support Task Force 51.5 for planning noncombatant evacuation operations in Afghanistan. In July 2021, Lieutenant Colonel Burke was asked to serve as the Deputy J3 of Joint Task Force - Crisis Response and forward deploy to Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul Afghanistan. He redeployed from Kabul on 29 August 2021 after assisting with the largest noncombatant evacuation operation in US military history.
In 2022, Lieutenant Colonel Burke was transferred to 4TH Marine Division Headquarters G-3 to serve as an operations planner. During this time, he led staff planning efforts developing the division campaign plan, talent management program, and Expeditionary Staff Augmentation Team. He remained in the G-3 until his current assignment at Commanding Officer, 1st Battalion, 25th Marines.