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32 reviews for:
Bravo Two Zero: The Harrowing True Story of a Special Forces Patrol Behind the Lines in Iraq
Andy McNab
3.83 AVERAGE
32 reviews for:
Bravo Two Zero: The Harrowing True Story of a Special Forces Patrol Behind the Lines in Iraq
Andy McNab
3.83 AVERAGE
BRAVO TWO ZERO is the identifying sign given to an eight-man British Special Air Service patrol that was sent into Iraq to find and destroy a major land-line telecommunications link and Iraqi Scud missile launchers during the Gulf War.
Andy McNab is the leader of the ill-fated, and some would say doomed from the start patrol, which is landed right into the middle of a major Iraqi troop staging area, on foot, backed up with radio frequencies that wouldn't work and up against it from the start. When they are seen by a local child who reports them to the Iraqi army then their attempts to escape are mostly unsuccessful. They did manage to reach a designated emergency pickup point, but rescue aircraft never arrive. They then attempt to follow a 300km long escape route to Syria but after getting separated, and suffering from hypothermia and severe weather (including snow), four members of the team are captured, three die and only one makes it into Syria. The captured team members are then repeatedly tortured and interrogated by Iraqi authorities until being repatriated out of Iraq in a series of prisoner exchanges.
The Regiment (as the SAS is known) is made up of a certain style of soldier - they are tough, rough and trained to expect anything and handle everything. They call a spade a shovel and take their roles as soldiers very very seriously. Andy McNab has a certain style in his writing of BRAVO TWO ZERO that is very no-holds barred, to the point and graphic. Much like, one would expect, they would talk amongst themselves.
This is a true war story - there's no room for moral consideration of who or what is right in any of this - it's very brutal on all sides. The SAS team are tortured mercilessly and the descriptions of that are extremely graphic - but on the other side, killing people is something that they regard quite matter of factly as part of their own plans.
Definitely a book for those who like their war stories unspun.
Andy McNab is the leader of the ill-fated, and some would say doomed from the start patrol, which is landed right into the middle of a major Iraqi troop staging area, on foot, backed up with radio frequencies that wouldn't work and up against it from the start. When they are seen by a local child who reports them to the Iraqi army then their attempts to escape are mostly unsuccessful. They did manage to reach a designated emergency pickup point, but rescue aircraft never arrive. They then attempt to follow a 300km long escape route to Syria but after getting separated, and suffering from hypothermia and severe weather (including snow), four members of the team are captured, three die and only one makes it into Syria. The captured team members are then repeatedly tortured and interrogated by Iraqi authorities until being repatriated out of Iraq in a series of prisoner exchanges.
The Regiment (as the SAS is known) is made up of a certain style of soldier - they are tough, rough and trained to expect anything and handle everything. They call a spade a shovel and take their roles as soldiers very very seriously. Andy McNab has a certain style in his writing of BRAVO TWO ZERO that is very no-holds barred, to the point and graphic. Much like, one would expect, they would talk amongst themselves.
This is a true war story - there's no room for moral consideration of who or what is right in any of this - it's very brutal on all sides. The SAS team are tortured mercilessly and the descriptions of that are extremely graphic - but on the other side, killing people is something that they regard quite matter of factly as part of their own plans.
Definitely a book for those who like their war stories unspun.
Interesting read on the British SAS mission in the first Gulf war and how a team of 8 killed over 250 Iraq soldiers on their mission to blow up Scud launchers. The team dispersed when they were discovered and most were captured or killed. Gruesome details of the captured soldiers ordeal while in captivity.
War makes people surpass themselves. Mostly in horror and sometimes in courage.
This book is HORRIFIC. Not the writing style - factual and chronological, as you'd expect - but the events contained in it. It paints a very real picture of the goings-on of human's actions to others in wartime. A very small part of this book makes me envious, as I go about my modern lifestyle; I would love to get paid to run around like a kid blowing stuff up, but at what cost? Not for the feint-hearted.
'Andy,’ I heard. ‘Today we want the truth out of you.’
The edition of a book can matter, sometimes for what has been changed, sometimes for what has not.
The 20th Anniversary Edition of Bravo Two Zero is interesting for both these reasons.
What's in
There have always been fuck-ups, and there always will be. You can’t hold it against people who are doing their best in difficult circumstances.
Bravo Two Zero is a tale about an SAS team in the Gulf War that was compromised in January 1991. 7 of the 8 members were killed or captured. As a novel, it's a solid read, though it is a little heavy on the torture porn.
The 20th Anniversary Edition also includes:
* the author revisiting in 2003 where he was deployed and where he spent captivity;
* additional photographs, mainly from 2003;
* a Q&A with the author about his wider experiences in and out of the army.
These additions are good! They add reflection and poignancy, as well as important background material. I'm not sold on his views on torture, or his personal machoism over PTSD (he acknowledges the importance of treating it broadly), but those are matters of opinion. The additional material broaden the experiences in the main text, i.e. there are direct parallels made with Iraqi experiences under Saddam.
What's not
All the same, we gave a good account of ourselves: it was established by intelligence sources that we had left 250 Iraqi dead and wounded in our wake.
Bravo Two Zero came out in 1993. Subsequently:
* two other patrol members released their own books;
* the SAS RSM at the time released his own, which includes recollections of the post operation debriefing; and
* Michael Asher interviewed multiple Iraqis while attempting to recreate the events of Bravo Two Zero for his book.
All these books include significant differences from core elements of Bravo Two Zero, including but not limited to: the mission goals; the level of combat; the method of exfiltration; and the experience of imprisonment. There is also bad blood as to certain portrayals of one the patrol members who died during the attempt to exit Iraq.
The 20th Anniversary Edition of Bravo Two Zero addresses none of these matters.
We will never know the "truth". You can read all the books and draw your own conclusions, but you will never extract the "correct" narrative. People's recollections (and even their understandings at the time those events occurred) will differ. The only thing I can say with confidence is that I seriously doubt that the Swissair 727 that flew McNab out of Iraq did a barrel roll for shits and giggles.
What I take issue with is not the 1993 version of Bravo Two Zero, which I own, but the 2013 version. From a business point of view, I understand why McNab did not address the discrepancies with the other books. He cannot win the debate as, fundamentally, it is personal recollection against personal recollection. Reopening matters would reopen doubts as to his creditability.
However, while I give the benefit of the doubt to McNab in 1993, I can't in 2013, or 2023. Because McNab refuses to engage with multiple differing narratives in the 20th Anniversary Edition, I can't treat Bravo Two Zero as history, or even one person's version of history. Instead it's a novel that is a little heavy on the torture porn.
What matters
Bravo Two Zero was the book that supercharged the glorification of Special Forces, both as to their actions of derring do and the self-help soldiers. Do the issues with the authenticity of Bravo Two Zero imply wider issues with this ecosystem?
I don't know. There are things that remain true and inspiring about the story of the Bravo Two Zero patrol and the Special Forces lifestyle in general. There will always be times when the best advice is to drink your own piss.
What I would say is that we should not be reflexive in bestowing heroic status on units like the SAS, especially as Commonwealth countries increasingly rely on them to "fly the flag", with mixed results. The life is also hard and overly self-focused, McNab himself has been married five times. We should be careful about the carefully curated stories and military style self-help tips sold to us.
Context matters. Bravo Two Zero is business, good business even, but it is not history. History confronts discrepancies, even if it can't resolve them. Bravo Two Zero sells a story.
The edition of a book can matter, sometimes for what has been changed, sometimes for what has not.
The 20th Anniversary Edition of Bravo Two Zero is interesting for both these reasons.
What's in
There have always been fuck-ups, and there always will be. You can’t hold it against people who are doing their best in difficult circumstances.
Bravo Two Zero is a tale about an SAS team in the Gulf War that was compromised in January 1991. 7 of the 8 members were killed or captured. As a novel, it's a solid read, though it is a little heavy on the torture porn.
The 20th Anniversary Edition also includes:
* the author revisiting in 2003 where he was deployed and where he spent captivity;
* additional photographs, mainly from 2003;
* a Q&A with the author about his wider experiences in and out of the army.
These additions are good! They add reflection and poignancy, as well as important background material. I'm not sold on his views on torture, or his personal machoism over PTSD (he acknowledges the importance of treating it broadly), but those are matters of opinion. The additional material broaden the experiences in the main text, i.e. there are direct parallels made with Iraqi experiences under Saddam.
What's not
All the same, we gave a good account of ourselves: it was established by intelligence sources that we had left 250 Iraqi dead and wounded in our wake.
Bravo Two Zero came out in 1993. Subsequently:
* two other patrol members released their own books;
* the SAS RSM at the time released his own, which includes recollections of the post operation debriefing; and
* Michael Asher interviewed multiple Iraqis while attempting to recreate the events of Bravo Two Zero for his book.
All these books include significant differences from core elements of Bravo Two Zero, including but not limited to: the mission goals; the level of combat; the method of exfiltration; and the experience of imprisonment. There is also bad blood as to certain portrayals of one the patrol members who died during the attempt to exit Iraq.
The 20th Anniversary Edition of Bravo Two Zero addresses none of these matters.
We will never know the "truth". You can read all the books and draw your own conclusions, but you will never extract the "correct" narrative. People's recollections (and even their understandings at the time those events occurred) will differ. The only thing I can say with confidence is that I seriously doubt that the Swissair 727 that flew McNab out of Iraq did a barrel roll for shits and giggles.
What I take issue with is not the 1993 version of Bravo Two Zero, which I own, but the 2013 version. From a business point of view, I understand why McNab did not address the discrepancies with the other books. He cannot win the debate as, fundamentally, it is personal recollection against personal recollection. Reopening matters would reopen doubts as to his creditability.
However, while I give the benefit of the doubt to McNab in 1993, I can't in 2013, or 2023. Because McNab refuses to engage with multiple differing narratives in the 20th Anniversary Edition, I can't treat Bravo Two Zero as history, or even one person's version of history. Instead it's a novel that is a little heavy on the torture porn.
What matters
Bravo Two Zero was the book that supercharged the glorification of Special Forces, both as to their actions of derring do and the self-help soldiers. Do the issues with the authenticity of Bravo Two Zero imply wider issues with this ecosystem?
I don't know. There are things that remain true and inspiring about the story of the Bravo Two Zero patrol and the Special Forces lifestyle in general. There will always be times when the best advice is to drink your own piss.
What I would say is that we should not be reflexive in bestowing heroic status on units like the SAS, especially as Commonwealth countries increasingly rely on them to "fly the flag", with mixed results. The life is also hard and overly self-focused, McNab himself has been married five times. We should be careful about the carefully curated stories and military style self-help tips sold to us.
Context matters. Bravo Two Zero is business, good business even, but it is not history. History confronts discrepancies, even if it can't resolve them. Bravo Two Zero sells a story.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
tense
fast-paced
Marketed as non-fiction but likely more a work of fiction than we’re led to believe.
Had to keep reminding myself that this happened. Some very very brave men to do what they did.
adventurous
hopeful
informative
sad
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced