simonmee's review
2.0
'Andy,’ I heard. ‘Today we want the truth out of you.’
The edition of a book can matter, sometimes for what has been changed, sometimes for what has not.
The 20th Anniversary Edition of Bravo Two Zero is interesting for both these reasons.
What's in
There have always been fuck-ups, and there always will be. You can’t hold it against people who are doing their best in difficult circumstances.
Bravo Two Zero is a tale about an SAS team in the Gulf War that was compromised in January 1991. 7 of the 8 members were killed or captured. As a novel, it's a solid read, though it is a little heavy on the torture porn.
The 20th Anniversary Edition also includes:
* the author revisiting in 2003 where he was deployed and where he spent captivity;
* additional photographs, mainly from 2003;
* a Q&A with the author about his wider experiences in and out of the army.
These additions are good! They add reflection and poignancy, as well as important background material. I'm not sold on his views on torture, or his personal machoism over PTSD (he acknowledges the importance of treating it broadly), but those are matters of opinion. The additional material broaden the experiences in the main text, i.e. there are direct parallels made with Iraqi experiences under Saddam.
What's not
All the same, we gave a good account of ourselves: it was established by intelligence sources that we had left 250 Iraqi dead and wounded in our wake.
Bravo Two Zero came out in 1993. Subsequently:
* two other patrol members released their own books;
* the SAS RSM at the time released his own, which includes recollections of the post operation debriefing; and
* Michael Asher interviewed multiple Iraqis while attempting to recreate the events of Bravo Two Zero for his book.
All these books include significant differences from core elements of Bravo Two Zero, including but not limited to: the mission goals; the level of combat; the method of exfiltration; and the experience of imprisonment. There is also bad blood as to certain portrayals of one the patrol members who died during the attempt to exit Iraq.
The 20th Anniversary Edition of Bravo Two Zero addresses none of these matters.
We will never know the "truth". You can read all the books and draw your own conclusions, but you will never extract the "correct" narrative. People's recollections (and even their understandings at the time those events occurred) will differ. The only thing I can say with confidence is that I seriously doubt that the Swissair 727 that flew McNab out of Iraq did a barrel roll for shits and giggles.
What I take issue with is not the 1993 version of Bravo Two Zero, which I own, but the 2013 version. From a business point of view, I understand why McNab did not address the discrepancies with the other books. He cannot win the debate as, fundamentally, it is personal recollection against personal recollection. Reopening matters would reopen doubts as to his creditability.
However, while I give the benefit of the doubt to McNab in 1993, I can't in 2013, or 2023. Because McNab refuses to engage with multiple differing narratives in the 20th Anniversary Edition, I can't treat Bravo Two Zero as history, or even one person's version of history. Instead it's a novel that is a little heavy on the torture porn.
What matters
Bravo Two Zero was the book that supercharged the glorification of Special Forces, both as to their actions of derring do and the self-help soldiers. Do the issues with the authenticity of Bravo Two Zero imply wider issues with this ecosystem?
I don't know. There are things that remain true and inspiring about the story of the Bravo Two Zero patrol and the Special Forces lifestyle in general. There will always be times when the best advice is to drink your own piss.
What I would say is that we should not be reflexive in bestowing heroic status on units like the SAS, especially as Commonwealth countries increasingly rely on them to "fly the flag", with mixed results. The life is also hard and overly self-focused, McNab himself has been married five times. We should be careful about the carefully curated stories and military style self-help tips sold to us.
Context matters. Bravo Two Zero is business, good business even, but it is not history. History confronts discrepancies, even if it can't resolve them. Bravo Two Zero sells a story.
The edition of a book can matter, sometimes for what has been changed, sometimes for what has not.
The 20th Anniversary Edition of Bravo Two Zero is interesting for both these reasons.
What's in
There have always been fuck-ups, and there always will be. You can’t hold it against people who are doing their best in difficult circumstances.
Bravo Two Zero is a tale about an SAS team in the Gulf War that was compromised in January 1991. 7 of the 8 members were killed or captured. As a novel, it's a solid read, though it is a little heavy on the torture porn.
The 20th Anniversary Edition also includes:
* the author revisiting in 2003 where he was deployed and where he spent captivity;
* additional photographs, mainly from 2003;
* a Q&A with the author about his wider experiences in and out of the army.
These additions are good! They add reflection and poignancy, as well as important background material. I'm not sold on his views on torture, or his personal machoism over PTSD (he acknowledges the importance of treating it broadly), but those are matters of opinion. The additional material broaden the experiences in the main text, i.e. there are direct parallels made with Iraqi experiences under Saddam.
What's not
All the same, we gave a good account of ourselves: it was established by intelligence sources that we had left 250 Iraqi dead and wounded in our wake.
Bravo Two Zero came out in 1993. Subsequently:
* two other patrol members released their own books;
* the SAS RSM at the time released his own, which includes recollections of the post operation debriefing; and
* Michael Asher interviewed multiple Iraqis while attempting to recreate the events of Bravo Two Zero for his book.
All these books include significant differences from core elements of Bravo Two Zero, including but not limited to: the mission goals; the level of combat; the method of exfiltration; and the experience of imprisonment. There is also bad blood as to certain portrayals of one the patrol members who died during the attempt to exit Iraq.
The 20th Anniversary Edition of Bravo Two Zero addresses none of these matters.
We will never know the "truth". You can read all the books and draw your own conclusions, but you will never extract the "correct" narrative. People's recollections (and even their understandings at the time those events occurred) will differ. The only thing I can say with confidence is that I seriously doubt that the Swissair 727 that flew McNab out of Iraq did a barrel roll for shits and giggles.
What I take issue with is not the 1993 version of Bravo Two Zero, which I own, but the 2013 version. From a business point of view, I understand why McNab did not address the discrepancies with the other books. He cannot win the debate as, fundamentally, it is personal recollection against personal recollection. Reopening matters would reopen doubts as to his creditability.
However, while I give the benefit of the doubt to McNab in 1993, I can't in 2013, or 2023. Because McNab refuses to engage with multiple differing narratives in the 20th Anniversary Edition, I can't treat Bravo Two Zero as history, or even one person's version of history. Instead it's a novel that is a little heavy on the torture porn.
What matters
Bravo Two Zero was the book that supercharged the glorification of Special Forces, both as to their actions of derring do and the self-help soldiers. Do the issues with the authenticity of Bravo Two Zero imply wider issues with this ecosystem?
I don't know. There are things that remain true and inspiring about the story of the Bravo Two Zero patrol and the Special Forces lifestyle in general. There will always be times when the best advice is to drink your own piss.
What I would say is that we should not be reflexive in bestowing heroic status on units like the SAS, especially as Commonwealth countries increasingly rely on them to "fly the flag", with mixed results. The life is also hard and overly self-focused, McNab himself has been married five times. We should be careful about the carefully curated stories and military style self-help tips sold to us.
Context matters. Bravo Two Zero is business, good business even, but it is not history. History confronts discrepancies, even if it can't resolve them. Bravo Two Zero sells a story.
racheleanne06's review
Finding the writing a bit hard to read as it’s so small, might try again in the future
johno's review
4.0
I just re-read this (in my late 30s) for the first time since I was a teenager. Although at times it's pretty gung ho, it still is an amazing book really. Sure, parts might be a little exaggerated, but it's hard not to admire just the amazing resilance and endurance - physical and mental - of these men.
I guess there's a reason that you'll find this in pretty much every charity shop in the UK.
I also really appreciated the epilogue that talked openly about PTSD and whether torture can ever be justified. It added a bit of a more nuanced view to some of the earlier sections.
I guess there's a reason that you'll find this in pretty much every charity shop in the UK.
I also really appreciated the epilogue that talked openly about PTSD and whether torture can ever be justified. It added a bit of a more nuanced view to some of the earlier sections.
wallymountz's review
4.0
This started out as story about British SAS stories behind the lines in Iraqi, however it became an Escape and Evasion story and then a POW story. Not quite what I was expecting, but it was well told with good detail.
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