No joke, this is true.   The ranger Danny Grimes played by Ewan Mcgrero was the real life "hero" Ranger John "Stebby" Stebbins.  In 2000, he was convicted of rape and sodomy of a child under 12.   This has been confirmed by the author Bowden as not to embarass the army.

Sad, as it when any one does that to a child.

this is very sad but you do realize that this bit of 'news' coming from someone with your handle (ayatollah) does raise some concerns ... at first i didn't believe this story (i thought it was a rumour or an urban myth) until i verified it myself (it would've been nice if you had provided a source) ... i in no way condone this individual's actions but in the interest of full disclosure i have appended a paragraph (below) which sheds some light on the circumstances of his offense

*

and for a different POV on the men who serve valiantly in our armed forces here's a poignant article about a US soldier who is a veteran of Mogadishu (Black Hawk Dawn) as well as Gulf War II who shot a man who was raping an Iraqi child

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1073135004312870.xml

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Stebbins [the child molester] who is 36, tried three times to enlist in the military during the Persian Gulf War and was turned away before finally being accepted into the Army's formidable Ranger unit. Relegated to desk clerk duty and labeled "chief coffee maker" by his peers until called into action, "Stebby" reportedly surprised his fellow soldiers with his bravery and was eventually awarded the Army's distinguished Silver Star--one of the military's highest honors--for his heroism during the bloody battle. While he proved to be a tough fighter during the botched operation, Stebbins eventually ran afoul of the law. He was court-martialed on June 8, 2000, for sexually abusing a child under the age of 12 and sentenced to 30 years in Leavenworth military prison in Kansas, where he now resides.

-- Modified on 1/7/2004 8:56:05 PM

Posts like the first oft tell me someone has an ax to grind, regardless of the veracity of the facts.

As a former Marine who's been to combat, I'll be the first to say that heroism in combat is situational. There are plenty of dysfunctional individuals serving in the military. If this guy raped a child, that Silver Star doesn't mean shit to me.

I'm with Groovy2...  

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a big fan of child molestors, but as a been-there-done-that Army Ranger myself, I'm not sure why this is a big deal.  Any notion you may have that Rangers are some super-human Adonises would quickly be dispelled if you ever met me (and probably if you met Fortitude in person as well, but what the hell do I know, that SOB's coming up on 100 friggin reviews!)  They represent a cross section of every aspect of America and that means some of them will go on to do bad things.  I suspect the Rangers still have a better track record than the Catholic Church.

The fact that he happened to be a decorated veteran doesn't make his sins any more forgivable, but neither does it make them any worse.  Which I think gets to Groovy's point.  So out of the who-knows-how-many abusers there are sitting in the clink, at least one happens to be a vet.  Wow.

-- Modified on 1/8/2004 12:07:55 AM

What's with the old news.  If he did it and got convicted then justice has been served.  Move on.

What's the point of this thread? Some kind of attempt at anti-american propaganda?????

I have noticed in my 50+ years on the planet, 4 spent in the Marine Corps, that you can find dysfunctional and criminal people in all walks of life.

-- Modified on 1/8/2004 1:08:11 PM

Dude-

Anti American?   Get over yourselves america

pointing out flaws in our system is not anti-american- its what we are all about!

Relax- this is just an interesting side bar on human weakness -even among the sometinmes strong.  

Just an asshole getting exposed- no more no less.  Of course he exposed himself...

It's just one sick fuck who happened to have served his Country, heroically in a NO win battle.

A flaw in our system would be condoning the molestation of 12 year olds by decorated vets.  But the system worked very well, sending him to Federal prison (no early parole).

Since the story is 3 years plus old, I too question the original posters motive.  What is he attempting to say, that military heroes are child molesters?  Like I said before in this thread, there are sick fucks in all walks of society.  Most likely more than just a few in our little community right here!

I'm over 50 and love mature women, pretty normal.  But when I was 18 and loved mature women, some of my friends thought I was a sick fuck!  lol

Definitely one of "Uncle Sam's Misguided Children"

Do you think that if Ridley Scott knew how the lead character's actual life had turned out,that he would have cast Michael Jackson in that role?

Just things that I think about.....

...why did you have to go and make an insulting remark about the
Catholic Church?

While I do admit there have been some sick homos allowed in the priesthood, the vast majority of Catholic Priests are very decent, selfless, and kind men. I only wonder if you would be so willing to make a similiarly disparaging remark regarding Jews, Blacks, or Hispanics.

We have Michael Jackson, we have Robert Kelley, I'm sure thre are other outstanding citizens who have been in trouble in recent months. Why bring up this particular story at this moment.  And why did the ayatolla have to bring it up?  I just don't see it as you say- "no more no less."

If he wanted to bring up something about Black Hawk down, Why not mention that Ted Seizemore who played one of the characters in the movie beat the crap out of Heidi Fleis.  That would have more relevance to this forum.

I have no problems with people who point out there are flaws in our system. That way we as citizens of the system can find ways to fix it.  Or try to.

Bribite is absolutely right. There's an alterior motive here.

I certainly wasn't trying to be insulting or put any more "spin" on it than what I said.

The military has a lot of members and a lot of visibility so the sins of it's members get disproportionate play, when in reality, the military does an amazingly effective job of policing itself given the complexity of the task.

My point was that it's interesting to observe that a Ranger molesting a child is shocking news.  Somehow we expected a person, simply because he won a broze star, was going to live the rest of his life at a higher standard of personal conduct than other institutions--including but not limited to the clergy--expect their members to.  Not surprising that some will fail to pass that test and hence Groovy's question about "why is it news" when they do.

I have no clue where you were headed with Jews, Blacks, or Hispanics other than an attempt to set up some kind of ad homenum attack.  This discussion is about how a person's conduct may be judged differently because of their standing in a social institution, (Army, church, etc.)  I've certainly never said anything on any thread on this board on which you could associate my reputation with those kinds of remarks.

There is, in fact, a fundamental problem with your introduction of those terms in this context--Rangers and Priests have joined institutions and have subscribed to the common values espoused by those institutions, including expectations of conduct.  Races are NOT institutions in which members share common values or are predisposed to common behavior or belief.  They are merely personal attributes that an indvidual may have, they don't associate one's character or expectations of one's conduct to a common ethos that is supposed to be shared by that race.  Again, I have no idea what that sentence was trying to imply, it just seemed completely out of place.

And not to be sarcastic, but I tend to not brow beat others on political correctness if I intend to use the term "sick homo" in my post.  ;^)