Stephen Cio Burrell, fake military hero and aikido 8th dan

**omoplatypus** · Posted On: 5/17/2010 9:36pm

stephen burrell claimed to have an 8th degree black belt and heroic service in the vietnam war along with his writings published in playboy and matriculation at yale. were any of these things true?

i think not!

http://www.bullshido.org/Stephen_Burrell

**Sam Browning** · Posted On: 5/17/2010 9:39pm

Thank you!

**Iscariot** · Posted On: 5/17/2010 10:42pm

Under the Military Service record you have a broken link.

The link transcluded in: "Chuck Hardin, also known as Bullshido member Cy Q. Faunce, applied for Burrell's service records under the Freedom of Information Act. These records described a far less glamorous career than the one Burrell claimed."

reads as:
http://www.naming-schemes.org/~chard...ll/na-13164.pd
when it should be:
http://www.naming-schemes.org/~chard...l/na-13164.pdf

I would have fixed this myself, but apparently more than a Bullshido account is needed to edit that place now. Browning, stop eating the souls of your clients and fix this oversight.

**Cy Q. Faunce** · Posted On: 5/17/2010 10:44pm

Fixed.

Article is protected because it's an investigation article. I don't want the subject coming in and editing it.

**Iainkelt** · Posted On: 5/17/2010 10:50pm

I think the most stunning part is how he originally claimed an 8th dan in Aikido (spelled incorrectly) that suddenly, under questioning, became a 2nd degree BB in TKD...which is absolutely NOTHING Like Aikido in any fashion, other than they are both martial arts. I wonder if he picked Aikido out of a hat or wanted to jump on the Seagal bandwagon. Not to mention that an 8th dan is an extremely high ranking by virtually any standard and someone that accomplished would be very well known within Aikido circles.

I'm always amazed that people who choose to create these lies don't at least try to pick something that might have some degree of believability under even the lightest inspection. Some amount of war story inflation is understandable, even if not really "ok", but he really shot for the moon here.

Well done by everyone involved.

**omoplatypus** · Posted On: 5/18/2010 12:18am

Originally Posted by Iainkelt

I think the most stunning part is how he originally claimed an 8th dan in Aikido (spelled incorrectly) that suddenly, under questioning, became a 2nd degree BB in TKD...which is absolutely NOTHING Like Aikido in any fashion, other than they are both martial arts. I wonder if he picked Aikido out of a hat or wanted to jump on the Seagal bandwagon. Not to mention that an 8th dan is an extremely high ranking by virtually any standard and someone that accomplished would be very well known within Aikido circles.

I'm always amazed that people who choose to create these lies don't at least try to pick something that might have some degree of believability under even the lightest inspection. Some amount of war story inflation is understandable, even if not really "ok", but he really shot for the moon here.

Well done by everyone involved.

that was the same thing that was said by some of the aikidoka that i interviewed. they all wondered why he would pick that rank of that style. i mean, 2nd dan in TKD or karate isn't a rank anybody would really question. why not just go with that from the start?

**debbiedoes** · Posted On: 11/05/2010 4:18am

Inresponse to the S Cio Burrell thing you are very wrong I know him personally for 17 yrs and you all are very off the mark. Cio is one of the most amazing Martial Artists I have ever seen and I know quite a few of them one being Kenneth Miarecki Grandmaster 10th degree founder of Sen-I-Ryu Budo he is a lifetime member of the World Martial Arts Council as well as my teacher and very good friend I aslo refer you to Grandmaster Winchell Woo Of Huggars.comBoston Both of these accomplished teachers are friends of Mr. Burrell .We all know Cio Burrell who is also an accomplished published author..please get your facts straight and there are certain aspects of this mans life you do not know and never will refering to his military career and I do know them. I have been to his home many many times and I tell you he is who he says he is and more. He is the most dangerous person I have ever met in many ways. Please do not call him a liar untill you know from where you speak of. Its disturbing to me that someone supposedly of the Martial Arts life and mindset would make such a place since this is an attack on people and I do not find this place at all in line with the Morals and teachings of Martial Arts in general..I can also name many more of my friends as high as tenth 8th degree as well but the 2 I mentioned should be specific. Cio Burrell also grew up in Okinawa and learned the arts there please use better judgment when trashing a man such as him.thanks for chance to speak.....deborah Cee:911flag:

**BackFistMonkey** · Posted On: 11/05/2010 4:24am

Do you have anything to bring to the table besides hearsay?

Originally Posted by debbiedoes

Inresponse to the S Cio Burrell thing you are very wrong I know him personally for 17 yrs and you all are very off the mark. Cio is one of the most amazing Martial Artists I have ever seen and I know quite a few of them one being Kenneth Miarecki Grandmaster 10th degree founder of Sen-I-Ryu Budo he is a lifetime member of the World Martial Arts Council as well as my teacher and very good friend I aslo refer you to Grandmaster Winchell Woo Of Huggars.comBoston Both of these accomplished teachers are friends of Mr. Burrell .We all know Cio Burrell who is also an accomplished published author..please get your facts straight and there are certain aspects of this mans life you do not know and never will refering to his military career and I do know them. I have been to his home many many times and I tell you he is who he says he is and more. He is the most dangerous person I have ever met in many ways. Please do not call him a liar untill you know from where you speak of. Its disturbing to me that someone supposedly of the Martial Arts life and mindset would make such a place since this is an attack on people and I do not find this place at all in line with the Morals and teachings of Martial Arts in general..I can also name many more of my friends as high as tenth 8th degree as well but the 2 I mentioned should be specific. Cio Burrell also grew up in Okinawa and learned the arts there please use better judgment when trashing a man such as him.thanks for chance to speak.....deborah Cee:911flag:

**Soldiermedic** · Posted On: 11/05/2010 5:43am

Originally Posted by debbiedoes

Inresponse to the S Cio Burrell thing you are very wrong I know him personally for 17 yrs and you all are very off the mark. Cio is one of the most amazing Martial Artists I have ever seen and I know quite a few of them one being Kenneth Miarecki Grandmaster 10th degree founder of Sen-I-Ryu Budo he is a lifetime member of the World Martial Arts Council as well as my teacher and very good friend I aslo refer you to Grandmaster Winchell Woo Of Huggars.comBoston Both of these accomplished teachers are friends of Mr. Burrell .We all know Cio Burrell who is also an accomplished published author..please get your facts straight and there are certain aspects of this mans life you do not know and never will refering to his military career and I do know them. I have been to his home many many times and I tell you he is who he says he is and more. He is the most dangerous person I have ever met in many ways. Please do not call him a liar untill you know from where you speak of. Its disturbing to me that someone supposedly of the Martial Arts life and mindset would make such a place since this is an attack on people and I do not find this place at all in line with the Morals and teachings of Martial Arts in general..I can also name many more of my friends as high as tenth 8th degree as well but the 2 I mentioned should be specific. Cio Burrell also grew up in Okinawa and learned the arts there please use better judgment when trashing a man such as him.thanks for chance to speak.....deborah Cee:911flag:

Firstly:Welcome to Bullshido.

You've named all sorts of people, but you haven't spoken of yourself or your own personal relationship to Mr. Burrell.

If you are truly interested in "bringing to light" the true facts about Mr. Burrell, there needs to be actual, quantifiable evidence. Your opinions dont really matter since you seem to have some kind of connection to the person in question.

With regards about him being an accomplished martial artists and "the most dangerous person" you have ever met, that may be true, but it doesn't change the fact that he misrepresented himself as two different ranks in two very different martial arts.

The second issue is his military service. I assume you are referring him to being in some secretive clandestine "black ops" group where there will be no record of how many times he saved the country.

This is a tired argument, and used by pretty much every bullshido artist claiming a special ops background when they are caught and their lies are brought to light.

Until you(Or Mr. Burrell) come up with actual concrete proof of the accomplishments he claimed, then there is no reason for anyone to believe either him or you.

**omoplatypus** · Posted On: 11/05/2010 3:22pm

given that cio recanted his entire story to me when i interviewed him, and given that he used text book excuses about his story. and given that you are parroting the exact same lines of bull dookie that other supporters of frauds spew, you will have to forgive me when i say, i wont buy it with a wooden nickle.