Luke Ryan

About the author

Luke Ryan is a SOFREP journalist in Tampa, FL. He is a former Team Leader from 3rd Ranger Battalion, having served four deployments to Afghanistan. He grew up overseas, the son of foreign aid workers, and lived in Pakistan for nine years and Thailand for five. He has a degree in English Literature and loves to write on his own as well, working on several personal projects.

22 Sudanese children drown in boat on the way to school

Officials are searching for the bodies of 22 Sudanese children who drowned as they traveled by boat to school on the Nile. Reports indicate some sort of engine failure in turbulent waters, resulting in the sinking of the boat. While headlines are typically dominated with the comings and goings of politicians, violence abroad or some […]

Opinion: The root of the problems in the VA

Personally speaking, I’ve had a great experience at the VA. I’ve taken a couple trips to the ER, had some routine checkups, received quality treatment for a broken finger, and a couple other small things here and there. Many (not all) of the people I have met that complain about the VA are often forgetting […]

Saudi Arabia’s death penalty

Six men were pushed before the watching eyes of countless men, women, and children — they were thieves and murders, and they were set to be executed in public. The style of execution? Beheading. One might expect such a scene from medieval England or ancient China, but this particular anecdote? Early June 2017 in Saudi […]

Myanmar, the US State Department, and the word ‘Genocide’

“Genocide” is a word sometimes used colloquially for conflicts with large, targeted campaigns and high civilian death rates. It is also used in official capacities, with specific definitions — in Article II of the UN’s “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide,” Genocide is defined: [Genocide is] any of the following acts committed with […]

The American Road: Adapt and Overcome

Life certainly has its ways of throwing curveballs. Sometimes it’s a dramatic, one-time event that feels like a blow to your life, energy and very soul. Sometimes it chips away, day after day, minor events that are but drops in the bucket when they’re thrown at you one by one — however, they often threaten […]

The American Road: Purging material things

I’ve moved across the nation several times. I’ve gone from Arkansas to Oregon for a summer of wildland firefighting in college (wound up just doing prevention instead of fighting fires, though). I’ve gone from Arkansas to Wyoming for an intensive EMT course another summer. I’ve moved from Georgia all the way to San Francisco, passing […]

Analysis: 14 dead in attempted Taliban city assault

The Taliban conducted an all-out assault on Ghazni, the capital of the Ghazni province on Friday. Though the attack failed, they killed at least 14 Afghan police officers in the process, wounding another 20. They hit the city from several points of ingress, attempting to overrun it and expel U.S.-backed forces from the city. The […]

Brazil’s worst recorded year for homicides: 3% increase from previous year

Brazil has historically had a significant problem with violence surrounding gangs, drug trafficking, theft, kidnapping and domestic violence. A recent study has shown that the homicide rate has increased by 3% from 2016 to 2017. In 2017, 63,880 people were killed throughout Brazil. This is a homicide rate of 30.8 per 100,000 people. To put […]

US sanctions Moscow over UK nerve agent attack

The United States has imposed a set of sanctions on Russia due to the use of Novichok in the U.K. The sanctions, which will begin on Aug. 22, will restrict the national security-type goods, with the exception of some space materials and other aviation products. The sanctions would then be followed by harsher sanctions after […]

What’s going on between Canada and Saudi Arabia?

Harsh words have been traded between Canada and Saudi Arabia, starting with online urges and quickly turning into definitive action — Saudi Arabia demanding the exodus of the Canadian ambassador from their country, pulling all scholarships from their students in Canada, and even suspending flights to the North American country. What spurred this off? Why […]

In pictures: Everyday Afghanistan

The internet is an incredible tool, and it gives us the ability to see things happening on the other side of the planet. That can mean text from those who are there on the ground, pictures, or even video — these things are often anything but entertaining, but they give us an idea as to […]