'Why stereotypical?' you ask.
He was too perfect; his list of qualifications goes on for pages: Sniper Instructor; BUDS training; HALO jumper and who knows what else. (There's a lot more -the backstory on this guy is REALLY, long. It reads like an spec ops encyclopedia.) Not to mention his personal history: He was from a trailer park in ALABAMA, the last of nine kids, both parents deceased, spent his entire childhood hunting with his deceased fathers' rifle, yada, yada, yada. Now if that isn't stereotypical, I don't know what is.

'Well, what about his personality?' you retort.
He was pretty even tempered, courteous and plain spoken. Benny Ray was a divorced, doting father. The word 'nice' comes to mind. But then there was the dark flip side; he could be crazy intense. Former Staff Sargent Benny Ray Riddle was loyal to the point of needless death (we're talking Klingon-like devotion here. In one episode, he spat "Just say the word major, it's a hell of a good night to die!!" Remember that little thing I said about making him mad?).

He was one of those characters that didn't necessarily go looking for trouble, but wasn't exactly upset if he found it...you know what I mean? This dude was always, always, always ready for a fight. Anywhere, anytime. There's more...
His transport consisted of the largest Dodge Ram available -candy apple red and mucho macho. For short trips, he relied on his trusty Big Dog morotcycle. And he wore a lot of plaid. This guy was a walking, talking can of suppressed testosterone. That doesn't seem a little stereotypical to you?? Not that we didn't appreciate it...

'But there's a saving grace, right?' you insist.
Oh, yeah definately. The writers gave him a very dry, and very wicked sense of humor. Ok, so they didn't dress him very well until the second half of second season, but he was funny as hell. (Those Sears 1/2-off-sale shirts were killing me.) Plus, he had this groovy southern drawl. Yeah, you read that right.

For those of you who only recognize him from...uuh...previous work and find it a stretch to believe this was a guy with SEAL training, it worked -most probably because Tim actually served in the US Army. My personal opinion? He makes Gibson, Schwarzenegger, Smith and Stallone look like wannabes. Come to think of it, they are wannabes.(OK I may be biased, but I'm not wrong.)

But I digress...

The show got cancelled, Rysher was sold and everyone has moved on to other things. My point to this? I just wanted to say for the record;

I really liked Benny Ray. He was WAY cool.

Tim Update: May 2001.
He's got a role in the upcoming film "We Were Soldiers Once...And Young", a novel about two of the first major battles of the Vietnam War. I don't know what part he'll play, but I highly recommend this book. Oh, yeah -I almost forgot: Mel Gibson is gonna be in it too.
There you have it. Click here to get to my actual home page FutureKitty Fiction. You know...if you feel like it.
(PS The photo of Tim in uniform doesn't belong to me. It was taken from SuaSponte.com, a 'what's goin' on' newsletter for past and present Army Rangers.)
(PPS Special Ops Force and the character Benny Ray Riddle, in addition to the portrait above of said character, don't belong to me either. At one time, both were the property of Rysher Entertainment. If memory serves, SOF was sold to Paramount, so don't get riled and sue me...it wouldn't be worth your time. This site doesn't make any money...At all.)