Bravo Two Zero (1993 book) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

This article is about the book. For the actual events see Bravo Two Zero
Bravo Two Zero
Bravo Two Zero was the call sign of an eight-man British Army SAS patrol, deployed into Iraq during the First Gulf War in January 1991. According to one patrol member's account, the patrol were given the task of "gathering intelligence;.....

. For the film see Bravo Two Zero (film)
Bravo Two Zero (film)
Bravo Two Zero is a 1999 two hour television miniseries , based on the book of the same name by Andy McNab. The film covers real life events - from the perspective of Andy McNab, patrol commander of Bravo Two Zero, a British SAS patrol , tasked to find Iraqi Scud missile launchers during the Gulf...

Bravo Two Zero is a 1993 book written under the pseudonym 'Andy McNab

Andy McNab

Sergeant ‘Andy McNab’ DCM MM is the pseudonym of an English novelist and former SAS operative and soldier.McNab came into public prominence in 1993, when he published his account of the failed Special Air Service patrol, Bravo Two Zero for which he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal in...

'. The book recounts the story of an SAS patrol behind enemy lines in Iraq, in 1991, which was led by the author.

Controversy

The content of the book was criticised by fellow Bravo Two Zero
Bravo Two Zero
Bravo Two Zero was the call sign of an eight-man British Army SAS patrol, deployed into Iraq during the First Gulf War in January 1991. According to one patrol member's account, the patrol were given the task of "gathering intelligence;.....

patrol member, Malcolm MacGown, who stated "incidents such as teeth extraction and burning with a heated spoon did not happen. It is inconceivable that any such incidents could have occurred without them being discussed or being physically obvious".
Michael Asher
Michael Asher (explorer)
Michael Asher is an author, historian, deep ecologist, and notable desert explorer who has covered more than 30,000 miles on foot and camel. He spent three years living with a traditional nomadic tribe in the Sudan.-Biography:...

's investigative book, "The Real Bravo Two Zero" (2003, ISBN 0304365548.) criticised McNab's estimation of the number of soldiers the patrol encountered. According to Asher, the patrol never actually encountered soldiers, only police and armed civilians.
According to the book, at one stage, the patrol evicted all occupants from a taxi and drove until they reached a military check point, where Lane shot and killed one soldier, while the others in the group killed two more. According to patrol member Chris Ryan's second-hand account (presumably taken from the Regimental debrief), the group were actually driven to a police checkpoint by one of the Iraqi occupants of the taxi. They discreetly exited the vehicle with plans to rendezvous on the other side of the checkpoint, but the driver alerted the police, and the group were forced to continue on foot. Asher's investigation supported Ryan's version of events with no reported soldiers, no reported armed contact and no reported Iraqi casualties.
The SAS's Regimental Sergeant Major
Regimental Sergeant Major
Regimental Sergeant Major is an appointment held by warrant officers class 1 in the British Army, the British Royal Marines and in the armies of many Commonwealth nations, including Australia and New Zealand; and by chief warrant officers in the Canadian Forces...

at the time the book is set, and fellow Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...

veteran Peter Ratcliffe
Peter Ratcliffe
Major Peter Ratcliffe DCM is an author and former member of the Special Air Service .Peter Ratcliffe came originally from Salford, Greater Manchester. As a boy, he joined the 1st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment before and eventually going on to pass the SAS selection course...

said of the book (and of The One That Got Away
The One That Got Away (1995 book)
The One That Got Away is a 1995 book written under the pseudonym 'Chris Ryan' concerning the SAS patrol Bravo Two Zero, which was dropped behind enemy lines in Iraq in 1991...

(1995), "[It is] insensitive on [Ryan's] and [McNab's] parts to hide behind pseudonyms when they named their dead colleagues in their books, in deliberate contravention of the Regiment's traditions.".
Ratcliffe further wrote in his own book, Eye of the Storm (2000, ISBN 1843170523), "I was somewhat taken aback by many of [McNab's] anecdotes. He made no mention of the meetings he had with the CO and myself [in] which we tried to persuade him to take a vehicle or cut down on the amount of kit the patrol would be carrying.". As with Asher, Ratcliffe also cited McNab's estimate of 250 enemy casualties as counter to any proven theory of military kill ratios, but most importantly, the figure was never mentioned in any of the Regimental debriefs given by McNab at the time.

Controversy

See also