Ryan Knauss, U.S. Army

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Photo provided by the family

Hometown: Corryton, TN
Branch: U.S. Army 
Unit: B Company, 9th Psychological Operations Battalion, 8th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne)
Military Honors: Bronze Star, Purple Heart
Date of Sacrifice: August 26, 2021 - KIA in Kabul, Afghanistan
Age: 23
Conflict: War in Afghanistan, 2001-2021

Ryan Knauss grew up in Corryton, Tennessee—a small community 15 miles northeast of Knoxville, nestled in the ridge-and-valley section of the Appalachian Mountains.

According to his mother, Knauss dreamed of being a soldier from a very young age. Before his freshman year, Knauss begged her to let him transfer from Berean Christian School in East Knoxville to Gibbs High School in Corryton so he could join their Junior ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) program. She relented.

A high school teacher told the Knoxville News Sentinel that as a 14-year-old boy, Knauss wrote: “a role model is anyone who stands up against power to help other people.”

During his senior year, Knauss was eager to enlist in the Army but was too young. He brought an Army recruiter home with him, and his parents knew that Ryan was pursuing his dream and was too determined to be denied. They signed his paperwork for early enlistment.

While in high school, Knauss worked at a pizza parlor in nearby Knoxville. There he met a coworker, Alena Scarlett. The two started dating and eventually married while he was in basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia. After completing his training, Knauss was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division’s 2nd Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and deployed to Afghanistan in 2017 as a gunner.

When he returned to the U.S., Knauss successfully completed the Army’s Psychological Operations Assessment and Selection Course and the Psychological Operations Qualification Course. He was then assigned to B Company, 9th Psychological Operations Battalion, 8th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne).

In August of 2021, a plan was developed to evacuate American citizens and Afghan allies from Kabul, Afghanistan. The U.S. government was looking to end its 20-year presence in the region.

Knauss’s battalion commander, Lt. Col. Daniel Kinsella, told Army Times, “When we got word of this [volunteer] mission, Ryan was the first to raise his hand and say, ‘I will go—send me.’ He was playing a direct part in saving American lives and getting them to safety.”

In the chaotic withdrawal on August 26, 2021, SSG Knauss was assisting with the evacuation of 100,000 Americans and Afghan refugees at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. He was positioned near Abbey Gate when a suicide bomber attacked, killing Knauss and twelve more American service members—along with 170 Afghan civilians trying to escape the Taliban.

At age 23, SSG Ryan Knauss gave his life on a volunteer mission, helping people he didn’t know get to safety—becoming the role model he himself had described at age 14.

On September 21, 2021, Staff Sergeant Ryan C. Knauss was laid to rest with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery (Section 60, Site 11954).