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Summary: The human face on the 100 day "Air War"
Review: This book is a great (and relatively detailed) book about the experiences of those captured during the Gulf War. This book tells the story of how the men of Bravo 20 go beyond what is expected; to what is expected of those "Who Dare." The author casually (and factually) discusses experiences he had that would make most readers cring just reading.
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Summary: An Excellent Insight Into SAS Life
Review: A superb read. If you want to know just how hard these SAS guys are then read this book. Exciting, fast-paced and extremely absorbing.
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Summary: A Story of Tremendous Courage!!
Review: All I can say is once I started reading the book I could not put it down. Bravo Two Zero is assigned to go behind Iraqi lines and destroy the Scuds of Saddam. Unfortunately they are dropped in an area heavily populated by civilians and military units. The ordeal that they endure is a tribute to human endurance and courage. I admired McNab for his decision making in situations you cannot even fathom. I also liked the writing style McNab used as it is very "matter of fact". You will also learn a lot about the culture of the SAS units which was also very interesting.
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Summary: Bravo Two Zero
Review: This book an excellent example of the true history/war genre. I am not usually into nonfiction, but I think that this would be the exception. This tells of a British SAS team dropped deep within Iraqi territory to destroy SCUDS and the hardships they hard to endure before returning home. After reading this book I have a lot more respect for the British Special Forces, and feel that it is a good read even with the British slang.
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Summary: It took guts!
Review: I was recommended this true-life adventure by a correspondent in the American Special Forces. It is the account of an eight-man team of the British SAS during Desert Storm: their "suicide" mission and subsequent capture and torture by Iraqi forces. The episodes of their sadistic "beasting" at the hands of their captors are difficult enough just to *read* about! Yet such was the specialized training of these commandos, that they not only endured without breaking, but actually sustained themselves throughout their ordeal with grim humor. "At least they can't make us pregnant," they joke amongst themselves. Despite the graphic violence I very much enjoyed the writing style and dialogue of this narrative; it's very earthy and English. And also very sobering. The Gulf War was so "sanitized" by CNN that it was easy to overlook how dangerous it was, especially for the elite warriors who went in behind enemy lines. For action and drama, this memoir reads like an exciting novel.
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Summary: A thoroughly engaging story of courage.
Review: A friend lent me this book, and at first I didn't like it at all because of the use of British slang. After about the first two chapters, I didn't notice the slang anymore and I became engrossed in the story. This is a true story of the most incredible bravery I have ever heard of. I could not help but wonder what I would have done given the same situation, but I am certain I could not have persevered as well as the author and his friends. I recommend this book to readers of all genres, as it has a little bit of everything for everybody. A real page turner, hard to put down kind of novel.
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Summary: Mental fitness
Review: McNab describes the true story of a 8 man troop on duty in Iraq. This book has become standard among members of special forces. The details of the planning and work (and the mistakes, too) of an SAS team is highly interesting to an professional soldier. But also the "civilian" will enjoy this book. The bigger part of the story tells how McNab was put to the torture as prisoner in Iraq and how he survived. It is amazing to read what a human being can undergo without being broken only through mental fitness. The best military book I have ever read!
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Summary: New meaning to the English adage of the "stiff upper lip"
Review: What an amazing story. Bravo Two Zero tells the tale of a squad of British SAS soldiers on a mission in Iraq during the Gulf War to take out mobile Scud launchers. When I started reading the book, I expected to read about the detailed accounts of how the launchers were wiped out and how Sgt. Andy McNab's team contributed to this effort. I was shocked as a chain of unfortunate events ruined the mission and put McNab's team in great peril. Several of them died and some were captured by Iraqi troops. Bravo Two Zero is not for the faint of heart. The detailed account of McNab's torture and brutal beatings at the hand of the Iraqis is tough reading. I'm in awe of the fortitude and subtle defiance that he and his men exhibited in the face of such terrible cruelty. But don't mistake this book for a "prison journal." It's anything but. McNab goes into great detail about how the Scud hunting missions and special forces missions in general are planned and executed. You begin to realize that even the best-laid plans can be subject to failure if minute details are overlooked. As McNab points out however, in a speech he recalls from his regimental commander, the true mettle of a soldier is measured not only by his successes, but by how he performs when all hell has broken loose and the mission seems to be a total failure. Bravo Two Zero is not only an amazing real-life adventure story, but also a testament to the endurance, determination and courage of the British SAS troops who took part in the Gulf War, playing a crucial role in the defeat of Sadaam Hussein.
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Summary: An amazing story of incredible human endurance and training
Review: This just shows what the SAS can do. I read the review by Sam Damon Jr and i was almost choking with laughter. Sorry mate but who are you to question the decisions of the SAS, the greatest Special Forces unit on this very planet? I'm American and i'm patriotic and all but you have to admit that compared to the SAS and SBS Delta Force and the Navy SEALS pale in comparison and this is proof of this. It is the British mentality that shines through in this book just as much as anything esle: McNab and co. are still joking long after they have been discovered. With 200lbs bergens on their backs and a 75 mile trip (you try going 75 miles without the bergen to illustrate how fit and strong these guys are) in the baking sun and freezing moon these guys were telling jokes. We Americans would be complaining about our backs and lack of electricity. The bulldog, never say die spirit is incredible. Before reading this book i thought all the Brits did was sit and watch BBC and cricket while drinking tea. How wrong i was. The eight SAS men killed 250 Iraqis. If thats a mission gone wrong i just can't wait to hear of what a mission that goes perfectly looks like. And i can't wait for the Navy SEALS or Delta Force to pull off something like this or the Iranian embassy. But i'll be waiting a long time, a life time.
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Summary: This is why the SAS are the best in the business.
Review: This book is the true story of operation gone horribly wrong during the Gulf War. An eight-man team of the elite British Special Air Service were dropped by helicopter into the desert of western Iraq, each carrying well over 200 lbs. of equipment. Their mission was to watch a road for military traffic and hunt for mobile Iraqi SCUD missile launchers. They were soon discovered by a local shepherd boy. The local Iraqi militia were called out, and the poop hit the fan. Their radios didn't work, and so they had no way to call for an extraction. They decided to trek 100 miles west to the Syrian border. But one man had injured his leg during the evasion of the Iraqi forces. Another had been wearing his thermal underwear since the compromise, and so had sweating profusely the entire time and was now dangerously dehydrated. How any managed to survive is a true testament to the power of the human will, and to the rigorous standards to which the SAS trains its men. The overall book is excellent. McNab has put together one of the most readable military stories I've ever come across. It's a cliche, but this book is a real page-turner. There's military jargon galore, but he usually explains it for the layman reader. A glossary at the back helps with that, and with some of the British army slang, but the regular British stuff you have to figure out by context. It's the little things McNab adds that make this book so readable and "enjoyable," (if you can use that word about a book in which a man describes himself and his friends being tortured, and some dying gruesome deaths.) To a military professional, the tactics and gear of the SAS are an interesting part of the book. [To my grunt bubbas, make sure to check out the pictures of the packs and gear they carried.] But even the average person can find things to identify with in the book: The joking between the members of the patrol, even after they've been discovered; The story about the old Iraqi farmer who they run into while escaping. There are others, but I won't spoil the entire book for you. This is one of the most no-holds-barred looks at warfare I've ever read. The only book I can compare it to, for realism and readability purposes, is "Nam" by Mark Baker. If you enjoy military books, or true stories of adventure and survival against all odds, you'll like this book. BTW, if you already read this book, McNab's account of his life before the Gulf War, "Immediate Action," would be well worth your time also. I've also heard the BBC (or some British TV station) did an excellent movie version of this story, starring Sean Bean ("Sharpe" movies, "GoldenEye,") as McNab. I haven't seen it, but that'd probably be worth checking out, too.
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