Local Female Marine Officer Killed in Iraq

This story has some local connections:

CAMP PENDLETON ---- A Marine major from Camp Pendleton has become the highest-ranking female service member to die in Iraq since the start of the war.

Maj. Megan McClung, 34, a Camp Pendleton public affairs officer who was serving with the I Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq, was killed Wednesday in the insurgent hotbed Anbar province in a roadside bomb explosion in the city of Ramadi.

"She was a Marine's Marine and an outstanding public affairs officer," Col. Darcy Kauer, commanding officer at the I Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group at Camp Pendleton said in an e-mail provided to the North County Times. "She was a great friend to all who served with her. Her death has shocked and saddened all who knew her. She will be deeply missed."

McClung was reportedly working with a journalist on a story in downtown Ramadi when the bomb was triggered.

What the story doesn't tell you is that McClung was a graduate of Mission Viejo High School, where my kids attend. Our condolences to the family.