The Bravo Two Zero mission is one of the most famous stories of courage and survival. Of the eight members involved in an SAS patrol during the Gulf War in 1991, only one escaped capture - Chris Ryan. This is his story retold for a younger audience and brilliantly done too.
During the first night of a mission during the first Gulf war in 1991 the SAS patrol, Bravo Two Zero, was accidentally separated and Chris Ryan found himself with only two companions, completely unprepared for the vicious cold or the desert winter. One of his friends disappeared in a blizzard and the other left in search of food - never to return. Left on his own, he beat off an Iraqi attack and set out, walking 200 miles without food or water through the most extreme conditions and with his life constantly in danger.
Chris Ryan was born near Newcastle in 1961. He joined the SAS in 1984. During his ten years he was involved in overt and covert operations and was also Sniper team commander of the anti-terrorist team. During the Gulf War, Chris was the only member of Bravo Two Zero, an eight-man patrol, to escape from Iraq, of which three colleagues were killed and four captured. It was the longest escape and evasion in the history of the SAS. For this he was awarded the Military Medal. For his last two years he was selecting and training potential recruits for the SAS.
He left the SAS in 1994 and, in 1995, wrote about his experiences in the Gulf War in The One That Got Away. He has since gone on to write a number of best-selling novels such as Land of Fire, Stand By, Stand By and Zero Option.
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