Bravo Two Zero
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Bravo Two Zero was one of the best books I've read in a long while. The story follows Bravo Two Zero leader, Sergeant Andy McNab and his band of brothers.

The Plot
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In January 1991, eight members of the SAS regiment embarked upon top secret mission that was to infiltrate them deep behind enemy lines. Under the command of Sergeant Andy McNab, they were to sever the underground communication link between Baghdad and Northwest, and to seek and destroy mobile scud launchers.

Bravo Two Zero Crew
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Below are the members of Bravo Two Zero.

Dinger
Stan
Mark
Vince Phillips
Bob Consiglio
'Legs' Lane
Andy McNab
Chris

The Story
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(At some point after this, you may see a word in stars like this *Word*. If you do see this word or words, you will find the reference to what it means under the paragraph it is in).

This as you may not know was a true story. From the moment they got dropped off by helicopter, to the time they reached British soil again this mission was, in the words of Andy McNab, "F*cked up".

They were placed without realizing in one of the worst places of Iraq, The pilots of the helicopter, had dropped them in the worst place possible, in the middle of the enemy lines. Luckily for Bravo Two Zero, they were placed during the night, and had that as a weapon against the enemy (It was a weapon as they were cloaked by the darkness and couldn't be seen).

In the darkness they managed to find and hide in what I can only describe as a cave, in a canyon. They did not realize though above and around them, were the enemy. After a few days a shepherd boy spotted them, They decided they had to make a run for it before the boy brought back and Iraqi soldiers.

After a few minutes of running, they were approached by two APC's (Armoured Personnel Carrier - The people carrier of the Iraqi army world). These APC's had Heavy plated armour with one machine gun, and carried quite an amount of soldiers. They managed to destroy one APC with the other one running away.

They tried to use their *TACBE's* but found they didn't work. There was nothing they could do, they could not order a helicopter to pick them up, and the only thing they could do was fight their way to Syria.

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Reference
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TACBE - Tactical Beacon, contacts any nearby planes or helicopters which maybe overhead or nearby. By using this it will mean you are in danger and need a few bombs raining down on the enemy.
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As what happens to the members of Bravo two Zero, you'll have to buy the book or go the library. This book has been out for some time now, so it should be about a pound or two to buy. It depends where you are as I bought mine for £2 but have seen it cheaper elsewhere.

My thoughts
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At first I could only get up to page 10 and then I'd had enough of it, I tried a few times but only got to page 10. The reason for this because in the first few chapters, you have to look in the references at the back to look what certain words mean, for instance LUP: - Lying Up Position.
At first this got a bit tiresome, but I decided to read on.

The book was very graphical in parts, but I also found other parts were bad, as it was very difficult to imagine the scenery. The author Andy McNab could and should have been a bit more descriptive.

As you may have seen above this was a true story, after reading the book, I have great admiration in this person. He was in some death defying positions and was beat randomly in prison, as he was caught about 10 kilometres from the Syrian border (If you think this has spoiled the book, telling you a small bit about the ending, don't worry as plenty more happened at the end).

During the prison, he was beaten and sold off, everywhere he went he was beaten, with metal rods burnt, kicked and always told he was a Jew, Andy, a protestant was always getting bullied by the Iraqi, always calling him a Jew as Jews were killed by the Iraqi soldiers. To prove he wasn't Jewish, he had to show his male parts to a crowded room, (Jews don't have foreskin, Christians and protestants do, unless of a medical reason). After showing his parts, Iraqi soldiers were always storming his prison, asking to see his parts, once they saw it they'd laugh and shout "Foreskin, Foreskin".

Andy went some hard constant beatings during his prison life, sometimes 5 beats a day. My admiration goes to him, for the life he endured on the prison front and during enemy lines. He did not try to make himself out as a hero, he told the reader everything, the points he was scared and the points he cried.

He found life strange after he came home from Iraq; everything you took for day to day life was precious to him. Before this mission, he mentions his regiment was more important than his daughter and wife. He also stated, before the mission he only saw his daughter for the length of 3 months out off 2 years. After the mission He said, anything trivial, any sports day comes before the regiment itself.

What others Say
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"A gripping account of Special Forces at work... a tremendous adventure story".
Duff Hart-Davis, Daily Telegraph

One of the most extraordinary examples of human courage and survival in modern warfare"

Overall
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As you can tell this is a war story, No matter if your a war story enthusiast or not, you will enjoy this book. The courage each and every member was unbelievable, even when some of them were ill, they were together as a team.

One thing this book showed me, was how important team effort can be to get your tasks accomplished.

This book got to me a bit, I felt sorry for both the regiment and their families. The regiment because it was a hard way to die let alone survive and to the families as Bob Consiglio's family and other families of the regiment didn't even know their sons was in the SAS.

For those of the regiment who died, they were buried in a grave in Hereford. If I ever go to Hereford, I will visit these graves and see some real Heroes of war.

Channel Four
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Last week, channel four had a documentary about bravo Two Zero. The man presenting the programme, was an ex-SAS man himself. He followed the tracks of Bravo Two Zero and spoke to people who saw the regiment, even spoke to the shepherd boy, who was now a man in his mid twenties. The Iraqi's remembered Bravo Two Zero and was saying events in the book were false, and was giving what they could recall. Lastly, he said, any admiration he had for Andy, had gone after hearing what the Iraqi's had to say.

My views on this are, I believe Bravo Two Zero, more than I would any enemy. Andy, could possibly, forgotten some stuff, been a bit blurred on other parts.

In the book Andy McNab claims that the eight members of Bravo Two Zero, killed and injured over 250 Iraqi soldiers. The Presenter of the TV programme, said after interviewing, the Iraqi's that not one Iraqi soldier was killed and that Andy had made it all up. This 250 figure, may have been false, but I'm sure, in the heat of a battle, finger on trigger, ready to fire, I'm sure concentrate more on anyone firing at you rather than, is he dead. In other words I doubt 250 were killed but it's more believable than not one Iraqi soldier killed.

© Copyright of Andrew 2002.