Steven Billy MitchellCBE,DCM,MM (born 28 December 1959), usually known by the pseudonym and pen-name of Andy McNab, is a novelist and former Special Air Service soldier.[1][2]
He has published a number of other novels and two autobiographies in addition to Bravo Two Zero. He has also published a book on psychopathy entitled The Good Psychopath's Guide to Success, claiming that he exhibits many psychopathic traits.[7][8]
Early life
McNab was born on 28 December 1959. He did not do well in school, and eventually attended nine schools in seven years. After dropping out of school McNab worked at various odd jobs, usually for friends and relatives, and was involved in petty criminality, finally being arrested for burglary in 1976. Partly inspired by his brother's time in the army, he wanted to join the British Army. He failed the entry test for training as an army pilot, but enlisted with the Royal Green Jackets at the age of sixteen after being released from juvenile detention.[9]
When McNab joined the army he was found to have the reading age of an eleven-year-old. Shortly before his seventeenth birthday he read his first book, entitled Janet and John. Speaking in 2019, McNab recalled how "I can vividly remember the sense of pride and achievement I felt. It was meant for primary school children but I didn’t care ... From then on I read anything and everything I could get my hands on."[10]
Military career
He was posted to Kent for his basic training, and boxed for his regimental team. After basic training, he was posted to the Rifle Depot in Winchester. In 1977 he spent time in Gibraltar as part of his first operational posting, while with 2nd Battalion, Royal Green Jackets.[citation needed]
From December 1977 to June 1978, he was posted to South Armagh, Northern Ireland, as part of the British Army's Operation Banner. In 1978 and 1979, he returned to Armagh as a newly promoted Lance Corporal, and claimed to have killed for the first time during a firefight with the Provisional Irish Republican Army. McNab wrote of the incident: "I remember vividly the first time I had to kill someone to stay alive. I was a 19-year-old soldier in Keady, South Armagh, and my patrol stumbled across six IRA soldiers, preparing for an ambush. When the shooting started, they were just 20 metres away from my patrol. I was scared, very scared." He was awarded the Military Medal for this incident. However, security sources later reported that the person McNab shot was only wounded and died as a result of injuries from a separate shootout later that day.[6]
In 1982, after six years' service with the Royal Green Jackets (RGJ), and having been promoted to the rank of sergeant, he applied for transfer into the Special Air Service Regiment, which was approved by the RGJ. After failing his first attempt at United Kingdom Special Forces Selection, he passed in 1984, and was attached to the SAS, with which he remained for the rest of his career in the British Army. During his 10 years with "Air Troop", B Squadron, 22 SAS Regiment, he served with Al Slater, Frank Collins and Charles "Nish" Bruce.[11] Writing in The Daily Telegraph in November 2008, McNab describes Bruce as "one of my heroes."[12]
McNab worked on both covert and overt operations including counter terrorism and drug operations in the Middle East and Far East, South and Central America and Northern Ireland. McNab trained as a specialist in counter terrorism, prime target elimination, demolitions, weapons, tactics, covert surveillance roles and information gathering in hostile environments, and VIP protection. He worked on cooperative operations with police forces, prison services, anti-drug forces and Western-backed guerrilla movements as well as on conventional special operations. In Northern Ireland, he spent two years working as an undercover operator with 14 Intelligence Company, going on to become an instructor.[9]
During the Gulf War, McNab commanded an eight-man SAS patrol, designated Bravo Two Zero, that was given the task of destroying underground communication links between Baghdad and north-west Iraq and with tracking Scud missile movements in the region. The patrol was dropped into Iraq on 22 January 1991, but was soon compromised, following which it attempted an escape on foot towards Syria, the closest coalition country.[citation needed]
Three of the eight were killed, and four captured (including McNab) after three days on the run; one member, Chris Ryan, escaped. The captured men were held for six weeks before being released on 5 March.[13] By that time, McNab was suffering from nerve damage to both hands, a dislocated shoulder, kidney and liver damage, and hepatitis B. After six months of medical treatment he was back on active service.
Awarded both the Distinguished Conduct Medal and Military Medal during his military career, McNab claims to have been the British Army's most highly decorated serving soldier when he left the SAS in February 1993.[9]
Post-military career
McNab assumed his pseudonym while writing Bravo Two Zero. When he appeared on television to promote his books or to act as a special services expert, his face was shadowed to prevent identification.[14] According to the book The Big Breach, by Richard Tomlinson, a renegade MI6 spy, McNab was part of a special training team after the Iraq War, training MI6 recruits in sabotage and guerrilla warfare techniques.
Due to the extremely sensitive nature of his work while serving with the SAS, McNab is bound by contract to submit his writings to the Ministry of Defence for review.[2]
After leaving the Army, McNab developed and maintained a specialist training course for news crews, journalists and members of non-governmental organisations working in hostile environments. He spent time in Hollywood as a technical weapons adviser and trainer on Michael Mann's film Heat. He was also the technical adviser on the 2005 crime film Dirty.[15][bettersourceneeded]
In February 2007, McNab returned to Iraq for seven days as The Sun newspaper's security adviser with 2nd Battalion, The Rifles.[16]
McNab has written about his experiences in the SAS in three best-selling books, Bravo Two Zero (1993), Immediate Action (1995), and Seven Troop (2008). Bravo Two Zero sold over 1.7million copies, with Immediate Action selling 1.4million in the UK. It has been published in 17 countries and translated into 16 languages.[9] The CD spoken word version of Bravo Two Zero, narrated by McNab, sold over 60,000 copies and earned a silver disc. A BBC film of Bravo Two Zero, starring Sean Bean, was shown on prime time BBC One television in 1999 and released on DVD in 2000. Immediate Action, McNab's autobiography, spent 18 weeks at the top of the best-seller lists following the lifting of an ex-parte injunction granted to the Ministry of Defence in September 1995.[9]
The veracity of McNab's first book, Bravo Two Zero, has been questioned by Michael Asher, an explorer, Arabist and former SAS reservist, who visited Iraq with a Channel 4 film crew, and interviewed many eyewitnesses. Asher concluded that much of what McNab wrote was a fabrication, and that there was no evidence that the Bravo Two Zero patrol accounted for a single enemy casualty.[17][18] Moreover, McNab's account and that of his comrade Chris Ryan are contradictory on many points. This has been corroborated by Peter Ratcliffe, who was regimental sergeant major of 22 SAS Regiment during the Gulf War, who stated that, in a debriefing to the entire Regiment, recorded on video, none of the patrol members mentioned contacts with large numbers of enemies or any of the other extraordinary incidents included in the books.[19] Asher's conclusion was that the book's claim to be "the true story of an SAS patrol in action" was a fraud.[17]
McNab now lives in New York City with his fifth wife.[2] He is a director of military service recruitment, mentoring and Foundation organisation, ForceSelect.[20][vague]
In August 2014, McNab was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue.[21]
McNab is the author of a number of action thrillers written with the help of a ghostwriter.[24]
The Nick Stone Missions are a successful series based on an ex-SAS soldier working on deniable operations for British intelligence. The series draws extensively on McNab's experiences and knowledge of Special Forces soldiering. The Boy Soldier Series was written with the co-operation of Robert Rigby and follows a boy named Danny Watts and his grandfather Fergus, apparently a rogue ex-SAS soldier.
McNab has also written books for Quick Reads, a charity that supports World Book day. BBC raw words offers exclusive audio versions of the latest Quick Reads by Andy McNab, Last Night Another Soldier (2010), read by Rupert Degas. Other fiction books include Audio Stories, Men at War series, Battlefield 3, Tom Buckingham series, and two young adult series: Dropzone Stories and The New Recruit series.
McNab worked with DICE serving as the game's consultant on military tactics for Battlefield 3.[25] He penned a tie-in novel called Battlefield 3: The Russian, which follows the story of a Spetsnaz GRU commando Dmitri "Dima" Mayakovsky and his involvement against the PLR (People's Liberation & Resistance), an Iranianparamilitaryinsurgent group, as well as his connection to the antagonist.[26][27] The novel was released on 25 October 2011.[28]
Film work
After his work on the Miramax film Heat, Miramax acquired the film rights to the first four of McNab's novels, and as of 2011 Echelon was in production, based on the book Firewall (2000). McNab is to co-produce and co-write the script and also act as technical adviser.[29] In 2014, Luke Evans was cast as Tom Buckingham in Red Notice with Nick Love as director. McNab is to consult as technical adviser and have a role in production as well. This did not end up happening.[needs update]
↑ McNab, Andy. "Prologue". Battlefield 3: The Russian. Solomon sat cross-legged on his bed, the disassembled pieces of his US-sourced Colt 45 laid out in front of him. […] Once Dima had been his mentor[,] but Solomon didn't need mentors now.
The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling, and in 1950 it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terrorism, hostage rescue, direct action and special reconnaissance. Much of the information about the SAS is highly classified, and the unit is not commented on by either the British government or the Ministry of Defence due to the secrecy and sensitivity of its operations.
Bravo Two Zero was the call sign of an eight-man British Army Special Air Service (SAS) patrol, deployed into Iraq during the First Gulf War in January 1991. According to Chris Ryan's account, the patrol was given the task of gathering intelligence, finding a good lying-up position (LUP), setting up an observation post (OP), and monitoring enemy movements, especially Scud missile launchers on the Iraqi Main Supply Route (MSR) between Baghdad and northwestern Iraq; however, according to Andy McNab's account, the task was to find and destroy Iraqi Scud missile launchers along a 250 km stretch of the MSR.
Colin Armstrong,, usually known by the pen-name Chris Ryan, is a British author, television presenter, security consultant and former Special Air Service sergeant.
The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land. The award was established in 1916, with retrospective application to 1914, and was awarded to other ranks for "acts of gallantry and devotion to duty under fire". The award was discontinued in 1993, when it was replaced by the Military Cross, which was extended to all ranks, while other Commonwealth nations instituted their own award systems in the post war period.
Bravo Two Zero is a 1999 two-hour television miniseries, based on the 1993 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 War in 1991. The names of the patrol members killed were changed.
Fire and movement, or fire and maneuver, is the basic modern military low-level unit tactic used to maneuver on the battlefield in the presence of the enemy, especially when under fire. It involves heavy use of all available cover, and highly-coordinated exchanges of rapid movement by some elements of the squad or platoon while other elements cover this movement with suppression fire. It is used both to advance on enemy positions as part of an attack, or withdrawal from current positions under attack by the enemy. The moving and supporting (suppressing) elements may be teams or individuals, and may quickly and continuously exchange roles until the entire unit completes the maneuver objective. Some members will specialize more in different roles within fire and movement as fits their range, equipment, terrain, and ability to maneuver. This is usually applied to standard infantry tactics, but forms of this are also used with armored fighting vehicles or when supported by artillery or airpower.
UK Joint Special Forces Selection is the selection and training process for candidates of the United Kingdom Special Forces: Special Air Service, Special Boat Service, and Special Reconnaissance Regiment. Members of the SAS and SBS undergo selection up to the award of a sand-coloured beret to SAS personnel, whereupon SBS candidates undergo further selection to qualify as Swimmer Canoeists, and SAS personnel undergo further specialist training. SRR candidates undergo the Aptitude Phase, before going on to their own specialist covert surveillance & reconnaissance training.
The history of the British Army's Special Air Service (SAS) regiment of the British Army begins with its formation during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War, and continues to the present day. It includes its early operations in North Africa, the Greek Islands, and the Invasion of Italy. The Special Air Service then returned to the United Kingdom and was formed into a brigade with two British, two French and one Belgian regiment, and went on to conduct operations in France, Italy again, the Low Countries and finally into Germany.
Soldier Five – The Real Truth About the Bravo Two Zero Mission is the third book about the Bravo Two Zero mission during the Gulf War to have been written by a member of the eight-man patrol involved.
Help for Heroes is a British charity which supports members of the British Armed Forces community with their physical and mental health, as well as their financial, social and welfare needs. The charity was founded in 2007 by Bryn and Emma Parry after they visited soldiers at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham. The charity now supports all veterans, serving personnel, those who have served alongside the UK military, and their families.
Michael Asher is an English desert explorer, writer, historian, deep ecologist, and educator. He has been acknowledged as one of the world's leading experts on the desert and its nomadic peoples. He has travelled and lived in the Sahara and the Arabian Desert, published both non-fiction and fiction works based on his explorations and encounters, and presented several documentaries based on his published works.
Andy McNab's Tour of Duty is a British documentary television series about the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War.
Major Peter Ratcliffe, is a former British Army soldier and commissioned officer who served in the Parachute Regiment and the Special Air Service in a career of almost thirty years, during which he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for gallantry in action during the Gulf War. He is the author of the book The Eye of the Storm (2000).
Bravo Two Zero is a 1993 book written under the pseudonym 'Andy McNab'. The book is a partially fictional account of an SAS patrol that becomes compromised while operating behind enemy lines in Iraq, in 1991. The patrol was led by the author and included another future writer, 'Chris Ryan'.
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. The author was a member of the patrol and tells of his 8 day escape on foot to the Syrian border.
Donald "Lofty" Large was a British soldier and author.
The Nick Stone Missions are a series of action thriller novels written by author Andy McNab, based on his own experiences in the SAS. The first book in the series, Remote Control was published in February 1998 by Transworld Publishers under their Corgi imprint.
Charles Christian Cameron "Nish" Bruce, was a British Army soldier.
On 2 December 1984, a four-man Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) active service unit was ambushed by a British Army Special Air Service team while attempting to bomb a Royal Ulster Constabulary patrol who they had lured to Drumrush Lodge Restaurant. Two IRA volunteers and one SAS soldier were killed during the action.
The Battle of Majar al-Kabir was the result of growing distrust between the British military and local inhabitants of south-eastern Iraq over house searches and confiscation of personal weapons that locals felt were crucial for their self-protection. Despite a signed agreement between local people and British forces stating that the British would not enter the town, the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment started patrolling in the town of Majar al-Kabir on 24 June 2003, the day after the agreement was signed. The British thought the agreement was to stop the weapons searches that involved going into the houses of local inhabitants.
References
Ratcliffe, Peter (2000). Eye of the Storm: Twenty-Five Years in Action with the SAS. Michael O'Mara Books. ISBN978-1-85479-809-1.
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