# What celebrities have been in US military special forces units **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 14, 2006, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710 "2006-05-14T03:41:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710/1 "2006-05-14T03:41:33Z")
The only ones I know of are Ice T who was a Ranger and Jesse Ventura who was a navy seal. There have to be others, but I do not know of any. ---
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710/2 "2006-05-14T03:45:52Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > Ice T Damn, sure didn’t know that. Wonder why he was such a dick after he got out, with that _Cop Killer_ crap. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710/3 "2006-05-14T03:55:58Z")
Wasn’t Jaime Heineman (sp?) from Mythbusters in Spec Ops? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710/4 "2006-05-14T03:56:41Z")
> [@Operation Ripper](#): > > Damn, sure didn’t know that. Wonder why he was such a dick after he got out, with that _Cop Killer_ crap. He said he disliked the military and didn’t like authority figures always yelling at him, so I guess I can see why he wrote that song. ---
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710/5 "2006-05-14T04:06:46Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > He said he disliked the military and didn’t like authority figures always yelling at him, so I guess I can see why he wrote that song. Well, that doesn’t exactly square with becoming a Ranger I wouldn’t think, which would invite even more of the same? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710/6 "2006-05-14T04:07:21Z")
NFL player Pat Tillman enlisted in the army after 9/11 and became an Army Ranger. He was killed due to a friendly fire accident in Afghanistan. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710/7 "2006-05-14T04:33:45Z")
Is there anything definitive saying that Ice T was in Ranger Battalion, or ever completed Ranger School? I’m having serious doubts about either. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710/8 "2006-05-14T04:53:12Z")
Info Please, and Wikki both have blurbs on him. He served 4 years in the Army, including being qualified as a Ranger. Don’t know his deployment record. He said he didn’t reenlist because “The Army is good place to find out you don’t want to die.” It is doubtful that the many vocal opponants to his life, and opinions would have failed to reveal any fraud in his military history. I don’t think much of him, personally, but he did serve, and evidently earned the ranger tab, which can’t be done administratively. Tris ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710/9 "2006-05-14T04:58:36Z")
I always thought the whole _Cop Killer_ thing was just an act. After all, you’re talking about a man who for the past five years has made his living playing a cop on TV. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710/10 "2006-05-14T05:02:56Z")
> [@Operation Ripper](#): > > Damn, sure didn’t know that. Wonder why he was such a dick after he got out, with that _Cop Killer_ crap. > [@Wikipedia](#): > > In 1991, Ice formed the Heavy Metal/Thrash Metal band Body Count. Their debut self-titled album contained a song called “Cop Killer”, which led to the “Cop Killer controversy”. This escalated to the point where death threats were sent to Warner Bros executives and stockholders threatened to pull out of the company. This eventually caused the album to be re-issued with “Cop Killer” removed, and Warner Brothers Records to drop him from the label. He answered the controversy by saying **the song was written in character, and that "if you believe that I’m a cop killer, you believe David Bowie is an astronaut.**" … ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710/11 "2006-05-14T05:07:54Z")
By the way, in addition to being a singer/songwriter, actor, author, Ranger, the man was a bank robber, pimp, and gang banger. I don’t find him the stuff of role models. I don’t doubt the Ranger thing; almost all the rangers I ever met were arrogant, violent, and not particularly set apart from others by their intellectual or philosophical achievements. They were all tough bastards, though. Tris ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710/12 "2006-05-14T05:22:31Z")
Here’s the thing. There’s only three types of people who go to Ranger school in less than 4 years of service. 1. Rangers. None of the sites say anything about him being in Ranger Battalion. The ones that actually mention a unit, say he was with the 25th. So he’s not in this category. 2. Officers. Biographies agree that he _enlisted_ after High School. So, no college = no officer. 3. Very extremely motivated and exceptional soldiers. All the biographies claim he hated his brief service in the military. So that seems to contradict this category as well. But I guess it’s possible. I just don’t see it. And, really, I dont like OR hate the guy. I couldn’t care less. I’m just saying there is little to back up the claim other than I think maybe he said it one day and it gets repeated all over the place. But there isn’t anything at all more specific than “Ranger”. Either way, he most definitely did not serve in a Ranger Battalion, so that excludes him from the OP’s requirement of special forces “unit”. He may or may not have been to Ranger school, though. I certainly have my doubts. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710/13 "2006-05-14T05:37:22Z")
Wait, I thought Jesse Ventura wasn’t exactly a SEAL, it was found out? ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710/14 "2006-05-14T05:43:15Z")
[This guy claims](http://www.cursor.org/stories/seal_or_udt.htm) that Ventura was technically not quite a SEAL but part of a similar team called UDT. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710/15 "2006-05-14T12:01:23Z")
Jimmy Hendrix did a stint in the airborne ---
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710/16 "2006-05-14T12:39:18Z")
Tiger Wood’s father was a Special Forces officer and a Vietnam veteran. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710/17 "2006-05-14T12:45:43Z")
I don’t think Jamie from Mythbusters was actually in the special forces, I think it is just a joke Adam makes on the show. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710/18 "2006-05-14T14:08:38Z")
Ok, so I posted the Hendrix bit based on an everybody knows it. So a quick check at wikipedia says that he wasn’t very successful in the 101st, and wouldn’t have qualified as special forces, sorry for the ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710/19 "2006-05-14T16:43:57Z")
Well, that’s another thing, too: what are we referring to as “special forces units”? That has a specific meaning in the military (thus Hendrix was a paratrooper, but that’s not SOF, just a different flavor of soldier). What is called that has varied throughout the military’s history and there wasn’t always a Special Operations command as such. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710/20 "2006-05-14T16:59:44Z")
Kris Kristofferson went though airborne, ranger, and helicopter pilot school. He made Captain before deciding to resign his commission and pursue a music career. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-been-in-us-military-special-forces-units/356710.md?page=2)