![]() ![]() Dropped into 'scud alley' carrying 210-pound packs, McNab and his men found themselves surrounded by Saddam's army. Each laden with 15 stones of equipment, they tab 20km across the desert to reach their objective. ![]() The sergeant exhibits both the good and bad traits of this secret military brotherhood: a skilled, intuitive soldier, outstandingly fit and often funny, he also avoids inconvenient facts or emotions, never thinks about his violence and shows military judgement which, hindsight suggests, was often flawed. 'They are the true unsung heroes of the war.' - Lt. Under the command of Sergeant Andy McNab, they are to sever a vital underground communication link and to seek and destroy mobile Scud launchers. ![]() In recent years the rank and file of the SAS has become a kind of monastic order dedicated to certain working class values, in which men suchas Sergeant Andy McNab (a pseudonym) are venerated. But Bravo Two Zero is the tale of a Special Air Service patrol in the Gulf War which was most definitely a failure, despite the heroism of its members. ![]() Traditionally, the Dunkirk spirit of these ripping yarns was exemplified by the officer class. In 1991, eight British special forces SAS men went out on patrol to take out scud missiles fired from Iraq into Israel. THERE is a particular British weakness for tales of heroic failure, all the better if the disaster in question is military. Bravo Two Zero by Andy McNab is a bestseller describing a patrol by the English Special Air Services (SAS) in Iraq during the Gulf War. ![]()
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