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.

Mogadishu: A history rife with violence

Somalia’s capital city, Mogadishu, has a long history stained with blood and conflict.  It’s the country’s largest city, and it seems that any headlines regarding the place always include some kind of gruesome bloodshed.  It’s like the city has never found a moment of peace to catch its breath.  Reports have just come in of […]

On this day in history: The United States Navy is born

The U. S. Navy is the most powerful force the waters of the world have ever seen.  It has more ships than anyone (by far), superior technology, and a staggering number of sailors working on its behalf.  The sheer, literal weight of the equipment far outweighs any near competitor simply because they’ve got so much […]

US to withdraw from UNESCO due to ‘anti-Israel bias’

The United States has decided to withdraw from UNESCO, which will take effect next year.  The U.S. State Department said the withdrawal was due to anti-Israel bias alongside some financial considerations.  They stated a “need for fundamental reform in the organization” and will continue as a “non-member observer state” in the future. UNESCO (United Nations […]

NYPD recording of Weinstein bust released to The New Yorker

On March 28, 2015, the NYPD conducted a sting operation targeting the film mogul, Harvey Weinstein. 22-year-old Ambra Battilana, a Filipina-Italian model, had gone to the police regarding Weinstein’s misconduct.  She agreed to record their next interaction at Manhatten’s Tribeca Grand Hotel, with officers nearby ready to intervene should he do more than simply implicate […]

CH-53 Helicopter crashes in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan

Local media in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture have reported the crash of a helicopter today, just before noon local time.  According to the Okinawa Times, the CH-53 went down near Takae.  Local emergency personnel were called.  So far, there have been no reports of any fatalities, though the Okinawa Times article did mention U.S. personnel on their […]

A stateless people: The difficulties of refugees with no official identification

The Rohingya crisis in the east rages on.  The number of Syrian refugees is still absolutely staggering.  Afghani displacement remains commonplace as the war with the Taliban continues. What do these crises have in common?  Stateless people. It’s true, they may or may not be generally recognized as citizens by their governments, but in a world […]

How to act around service dogs

Do the most counter-intuitive thing for any dog lover on the planet: ignore them. During the World Wars, dogs were found to be incredibly useful beyond their capacity for companionship and what they were initially bred for. Since then, schools across the U.S. have opened in an effort to provide people with a necessary medical […]

Pages of war: Looking at war through classic American literature

Many people like to scroll through the books of their favorite author, knocking them off the list one by one.  Are you a Faulkner fan?  Start reading “Go Down,” “Moses,” “The Sound and the Fury,” and “As I Lay Dying.”  Does Mark Twain spark your enthusiasm?  Dive into the “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” followed by “Life […]

Tactical training in movies: Why you want to see trained actors

You’re 16, at the movies with your friends, and the main character swings around a corner wielding a pistol held waist-high.  He fires a couple of shots with his other hand sticking out awkwardly like he’s balancing on a tightrope, and yet every shot lands either directly in the center of the forehead or straight […]

On this day in history: The death of Che Guevara

October 9, 1967: Che Guevara is hurled into a hut, shot in the arms and legs with a rifle, then quickly dispatched by rounds to the chest. The man’s face is plastered across t-shirts in universities, painted on walls in Cuba and associated with Marxist images all over the internet.  He is a symbol, no […]

Myanmar versus Burma: what’s the difference?

Burma and Myanmar are often referred to together, words used interchangeably to describe what sounds like the same country.  And that’s just it–it is the same country.  So why the two names? The government of Myanmar is known for the ongoing conflicts within its borders, dating all the way back to World War II.  It […]