What do You think about Bravo Two Zero (2005)?
Iraq, January 1991. During the first war in Iraq, one team of 8 soldiers of the Royal Special Air Service, the elite special forces of the Royal Army, was sent to operate beyond the Iraqi lines, in the middle of the desert. The name of the team was BRAVO TWO ZERO and their mission was to cut off some phone lines and to destroy Scud missiles mobile launch stations of Suddam Hussein. After a huge fight against Iraqi troops they aborted the original mission and instead escaped toward the border with Syria. Four of them were captured, just one was able to escape and the other three died. Andy McNab describes in this book step by step every single moment of those days in the desert, his and his team's feelings, worries and emotions. This is a great book not just for the story itself but because the author describes in particular the special forces strategies, how to plan a mission, how to survive in a desert when you are not well equipped (because the intel info were not detailed enough) and how to conduct one enemy tactical interrogation. The book is so well written that you can see yourself in the room with Andy during an interrogation or in jail. However, my favorite part of the book is the fact that all his considerations and all his lessons learned and are still actual and still useful for military guys like me.Really great book.
—Fabio Laporta
Andy McNab vividly captures the minutiae of what it means to be a special forces commando. His simplistic use of dialog and description only serves to heighten the tension. It's not so much as if you're reading a novel about commandos behind enemy lines as if you're actually in on the debriefing of those commandos. Any fan of military adventures fiction or otherwise should enjoy this book. The insights into how SAS missions are planned are simply amazing and the matter of fact way in which McNab presents his story makes the reader feel as if they're some bloke he's talking to down at the pub. Well worth it and don't be surprised if you have trouble putting it down.
—Matt
As a fan of military history, I do have a passing understanding the 22nd Special Air Service with our allies in England. The boys at Hereford are a tough lot and we used the Regiment in establishing our own 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta. If you find yourself in the mood to find out what tough really is, read this book.Bravo Two Zero is a harrowing story. One that you may have heard about once or twice in passing. The story is not so much about the failure of a patrol to locate and destroy Scud in Iraq, but about human perseverance and the chronicle of one man and his men and how they survived over a month of capture and torture at the enemy's hands.Andy McNab's writing style is sharp, concise, and reads more like a narrative story than anything else. It's a great read and at the end of it, you will have a greater appreciation of the men who go out there to do what they gotta get done.Another book, written by one of McNab's teammates, Chris Ryan, entitled "The One That Got Away", chronicles Ryan's perspective through the ordeal and the actions he took that led him to have the longest Escape & Evasion period in SAS history (180 miles).
—Trung
