Experiencing childhood in Corryton, Tennessee, Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss "consistently, consistently, consistently needed to be, here and there, shape or design, an individual from the military," his widow, Alena Knauss, tells PEOPLE. 

"I think it was only a feeling of administration, truly and genuinely," she says. "He wanted to help individuals." 

Aiding individuals was actually the thing Ryan was doing when he and 12 other U.S. administration individuals were killed at the Afghanistan capital air terminal on Aug. 26 as the military was defending departures toward the finish of the conflict. 

The Islamic State asserted liability regarding what authorities said was a self-destruction bombarding and firearm assault outside the air terminal in Kabul, among the crowds of would-be exiles and troops. 

The 13 assistance individuals killed were the last American fatalities of the 20-year war. Ryan is believed to be the remainder of them to pass on. 

He was 23; so is Alena — their birthday celebrations are a month separated. 

In a meeting, she shared her sorrow over her better half's demise and her standing affection for the man she calls "so magnanimous." 

Theirs wasn't generally a storybook sentiment — in any event, not toward the start. 

Alena was 16 years of age and working at a nearby pizza parlor when Ryan strolled in for his first day at work. While the remainder of the staff was "wore out" from the extended periods of time, Ryan was ready to go, Alena says. Which didn't by and large charm him. 

She whined to, a companion supervisor: "Who is this child? Who does he think he is? He needs to quiet down. He was truly here behaving like he claims the spot." 

The companion advised her: "All things considered, obviously he does. That is my sibling.' " 

After Alena endeavored to retreat by saying she was just joking, Ryan's sibling offered her a tip: "No, he has got an excessive lot of certainty. Thump it down a stake or two." 

Over the long run, obviously, the new child at work was in excess of an inconvenience. He was reflective, mindful, and natural in a way she hadn't seen from the vast majority her age. 

In any case, Alena dismissed Ryan's endeavors to date her for eighteen months. It was her mom who at last persuaded her to check it out. 

"My mother consistently pulls for a longshot, that is her thing," Alena says. "She would come in to get pizzas and Ryan was pleasant, simply kind, mindful, I figure all that you would need for a girl."

"Thus obviously my mother resembled, 'Alena, on the off chance that you don't allow this kid an opportunity, he will consistently be the one you think back and wonder, What if?' " 

From that point onward, Alena won't ever ponder "imagine a scenario in which" again. 

The first date at a yogurt shop transformed into periodic love notes on her vehicle and morning gifts of doughnuts and espresso. 

At the point when the two completed secondary school, Ryan advised Alena of his choice to enroll in the Army. Fundamental preparing traveled every which way before Alena introduced the subject of marriage. 

"After airborne, he would have been cut requests and I knew from my dad [who likewise served in the military], assuming we need to get this load of stuff moved for nothing, I should be on your orders," she says. "What's more, I resembled, 'That is something greater, discussing marriage and stuff, do you ...' " 

"Not in any event, overlooking anything," Alena says, "he was actually similar to, 'Totally. When would we be able to do it?' " 

Two or three was hitched in 2016, following a concise commitment and recommendation that Alena can't resist the urge to snicker pretty much this load of years after the fact. 

"One day he resembled, 'Hello, I need to pass by the shopping center,' so we headed to the shopping center and he resembles, 'You simply stay here,' " she says, noticing that she was driving as he was unable to have a vehicle during preparing. 

She knew quickly what was happening: "Wow, he is going in there and he will purchase a ring." 

Adequately sure, Alena says, Ryan emerged from the shopping center with a crate plainly noticeable in his pocket. He coordinated Alena toward the nearby airborne historical center, where the couple ran into another barricade: metal indicators. 

"I think it was the metal equipment on the ring box that went off," she says. 

After Ryan discharged his pockets for the gatekeeper on the job — making the ring now unmistakably noticeable — he and Alena went for an off-kilter stroll outside, to a remembrance garden behind the exhibition hall. 

"God love him, he didn't have a vehicle and this was the prettiest spot he could consider," Alena says. "Lastly, he's simply apprehensive to such an extent that he gets down on one knee, he opens the ring box topsy turvy, the ring drops out, and we're both twisting around on all fours searching for this ring." 

"He would kick me for recounting that story since I generally gave him trouble about it," she proceeds. "I'm actually holding him under wraps with the certainty." 

Ryan conveyed for a nine-month visit in Afghanistan, in 2017 and 2018, as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division. 

At the point when he returned, he and Alena subsided into wedded life, buying a "storybook" Victorian home misguided in 2019 and getting to know one another cooking, watching films, and doing one of his #1 exercises: metal-recognizing. 

"I think his best find was a sardine can," Alena jokes. "In any case, he truly believed that he had discovered gold. That is the best thing about him: He could make anything fun. What's more, I mean, we had an amazing time with that sardine can." 

The two keep going saw each other on Aug. 15, preceding Ryan made a beeline for Afghanistan. It was 11 days before the air terminal assault. 

He had been expecting the excursion for somewhere around seven days, as the circumstance in Kabul, where America was on a tight cutoff time to empty, started to become more terrified. He was serving in mental activities. 

"He recently continued saying, 'This will be speedy. This will be a turn and consume, I ought to be back soon,' " Alena says. "Furthermore, I resembled, 'OK. Indeed, I'm truly going to miss you.' And he resembles, 'You don't have to miss me.' " 

She saw the reports of administration individuals killed and injured in the Aug. 26 self-destruction besieging, yet she wasn't stressed. She had no clue Ryan was even nearby at that point. 

Alena and her sister-in-law stayed in the couple's washroom that Thursday late evening endeavoring a late-night DIY remodel of the restroom and dealing with almost no rest when they heard a noisy thump on the entryway. 

Dreading a gatecrasher, Alena crawled into the lobby and recognized a blue sleeve out the front entryway. 

"So I opened the entryway [and] when I see the dress blues, I didn't figure they did that any longer. I imagined that would be a call or something, so I didn't consider anything it," she says. 

In any case, when the warrior before her expressed those four words — "ma'am, we're so heartbroken" — she knew. 

"I've never felt so little thus defenseless," she says. 

They requested to come in while she attempted to handle what they were advising her. 

"I'm similar to, 'No, there must be an error. I was simply talking with him, there's an error.' And they're similar to, 'Ma'am, we wouldn't be here in case there was a mix-up. May we come in?' Very considerate, obviously, yet that is not what I needed to hear. I needed to hear that they were grieved, [that] they thumped on some unacceptable entryway." 

The days since have been full — with interviews, with gatherings with her Casualty Assistance Officer, with burial service plans — and an offhand bring in the Target parking garage with President Joe Biden. 

"I think many individuals are furious at the present time, and I imagine that this has been an impetus for outrage," Alena says.

"However, what the president imparted to me, I was extremely consoled by and he was exceptionally kind to me. What's more, I am thankful for such an extent that he required some investment to talk with me, simply offering his experience to misfortune. What's more, not contrasting sorrow, however saying, 'I've encountered misfortune.' " 

She proceeds: "He was simply disclosing to me that it's alright not to be OK, and that nobody can reveal to me how to do it, and that lamenting is an interaction. It seemed like I was talking with my relative, a granddad, and not the president. He was not excessively pretentious or pleased." 

However she laments, Alena says she's supported by the way that Ryan passed on doing what he adored. 

"On the off chance that he might have picked what he was doing when something like this occurred, that is the thing that he would do," she says.

"He was so benevolent and individuals like that — I don't have confidence in individuals, yet he caused me to put stock in individuals. [He was] somebody you would find out about in a fantasy." 

Ryan will be covered at Arlington National Cemetery, with recognitions crossing two dedications: one at Arlington, for his kindred help individuals, and one in Knoxville, for loved ones. 

The dedications, Alena says, are the end of a huge part for herself as well as her late spouse. 

She will confront the following section all alone. 

"As terrible as it sounds current, [I've been] sorting out how I will be alright," she tells PEOPLE. "I think positively, you get cleared up a bit ensuring your cherished one's alright in this time."

"Be that as it may, after he is let go, then, at that point you simply need to sit in the calm, at the time, and think: 'Alright, presently what might be said about me?' "