Luke Ryan

The way the details of war have been communicated has changed quite a bit in the last few hundred years, then again in the last hundred years, and finally again since the dawn of the internet. What was once a void of information has been filled, and sometimes oversaturated with reports, books and firsthand accounts […]

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Afghanistan on Monday, without announcement, flying there from Vietnam. He first praised the forward momentum toward peace talks between warring parties in Afghanistan and credited much of the progress to President Trump’s implementation of his south Asia strategy. He has echoed the sentiments of many up to this point […]

In December 2017, two Reuters journalists were arrested in Myanmar/Burma, by the names of Ko Wa Lone and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo. They had been reporting on the violence in Rakhine State in regards to the violence against the Rohingya. The story they were specifically working on was of a mass grave where 10 Rohingya men […]

Many headlines, articles and even conversations in regards to human trafficking refer to it as if it’s some sort of epidemic. It’s a problem that each country struggles with, even nations like the United States. It happens in cities and towns and everywhere in between. It’s probably happening in the nearest small town and nearest […]

Another Novichok nerve agent has struck the U.K. recently, claiming one life and leaving another in critical condition in the hospital. Dawn Sturgess has tragically died, and Charlie Rowley remains in the hospital. Sturgess, 44, was a mother of three. Last Saturday, Rowley and Sturgess of Amesbury, England were transported to the hospital after being found […]

If you haven’t seen the movie, don’t spoil it here — watch it first, then come back. “The Magnificent Seven” by John Sturges is a reimagining of one of my favorite films, “Seven Samurai.” Instead of a tumultuous time in old Japan, “The Magnificent Seven” is set in the Old West, just across the border […]

Saman Kunan (alternatively spelled Gunan) was a former Underwater Demolition Assault Unit (UDAU) Operator, otherwise known as a Royal Thai Navy SEAL. He died during the recovery efforts to save the children trapped in the caves in northern Thailand. He was part of an effort to send air tanks up and down the submerged parts […]

When I was in Burma on my first trip, we had a guide leading us through the jungle who seemed to know every inch of the place. This was before my military experience, and I was fairly young and certainly dumb, but I did my best to follow all instructions laid out by light hearted, […]

When I was on my third deployment, my father sent me a poem. He has done aid work in some pretty dangerous areas of the world, so while our circumstances were quite different, both of us had brushed up against the line of life and death a few times and related to each other’s experiences […]

The DOD has released a report for congress called “Enhancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan.” Read the full report here. The war in Afghanistan is not the same as it was in 2001, nor is it the same as it was five years ago. Things are constantly evolving and changing, and with these changes U.S. […]

The world let out a collective sigh of relief when the two British divers found the boy’s soccer team in northern Thailand, who have been trapped in a flooded cave for days. They were three miles from the opening of the cave, and severe flooding had prevented them from escaping. There are 13 altogether — […]

The U.S. Department of State has released its “Trafficking in Persons Report 2018.” The in-depth 486 page report outlines many facets of human trafficking, from the general business practices of local crimes of opportunity (like an abusive boyfriend selling his girlfriend‘s body for money), all the way up to larger, illicit organizations that traffic people […]