The Real Bravo Two Zero

[Devlin]

This Monday Feb 16th there is a documentary airing on The History Channel. It is about Bravo Two Zero the SAS patrol in the first Gulf War. I just read the book "The Real Bravo Two Zero" and it was very good, quite the fact finding mission.

Bravo Two Zero was written by an ex-member of the SAS who writes under the name Andy McNab.

McNab‘s version is heavily discounted in this new book. Hope the show is as good as the book was.

I believe it airs at 8:00 or 9:00pm on Monday night.

 

[brin11]

Thanks for the heads up. I‘ll be watching.

 

[Evan]

I have to see if its on the american history channel.

 

[Danny]

Thanks for the heads up! I‘ll be watching.

 

[grayrc]

The Real Bravo Two Zero

AIRING ON ROGERS CABLE:
Mon 2/16/2004 20:00 EST 55(HISTC) DURATION: 1 hr.
Tue 2/17/2004 01:00 EST 55(HISTC) DURATION: 1 hr.

 

[RCD]

The DVD is pretty good to

 

[Enzo]

Calls doubt upon McNab‘s accounts eh?

 

[Danny]

I guess it does! pretty well everything that was said in the book turned out to be a fabrication!

 

[patrick666]

Was it really?! I read that a couple years ago and couldn‘t put it down because of how intense the story was, and it is fiction?!

Does anybody know if there is a book of the same tale that is not written by lies, if at all?

 

[Redeye]

It was almost entirely lies, Patrick. If you read BTZ and The One That Got Away concurrently, you‘ll see that the two accounts don‘t add up.

"The Real Bravo Two Zero" is probably the closest hints at the truth ever published.

 

[patrick666]

Oh, I was totally unaware of that. I will definitely check out the RBTZ in the near future. Thanks.

 

[Dan Gerous]

Is this a new telling of the movie with Sean Bean called Bravo Two Zero. There is also a book called Sabre Squadron that I‘m reading right now by ex-SAS operative Cameron Spence that also tells of the SAS in Iraq. Seems like a good book but with these kinds of books you can‘t tell how much is real.

 

[Redeye]

Nate, you have your wired crossed. The movie you‘re referring to is based on a book called "Bravo Two Zero" by "Andy McNab", one of the members of the patrol of the same name. The story, however, has been rumoured to be greatly exaggerated. Michael Asher‘s "The Real Bravo Two Zero" was a book documenting the travels of Asher (who is also ex-SAS) through Iraq trying to get the whole story. Asher‘s primary purpose was to exonerate Vince Phillips, who is blamed by McNab for the failure of the patrol - but it‘s easy to blame a dead man because he can‘t defend himself.

Asher is fluent in Arabic and spent enough time with Bedouin nomads in Africa and so on to have some understanding of how to interact with them. His books has some flaws of its own, but it seems to make more sense than BTZ or The One That Got Away.

Sabre Squadron is another good story trumped up with a bunch of fibs - Peter Radcliffe‘s "Eye of the Storm" discounts most of the books about the SAS during the Gulf War.

 

[Dan Gerous]

Thanks Redeye. It‘s to bad that someone can‘t just tell a straight story because it should be told, not jazz it up to sell more books.

 

[atticus]

Is it true that the guys in this patrol killed or injured over 250 iraqis or is that a bunch of bs too?

 

[Northern Touch]

Ok yes, granted, Andy McNabs book and Chris Ryans book do have some discrepencies, but to think that one book by David Asher is THE WHOLE TRUTH seems a little far fetched to me.  Yes he was fluent in Arabic and a member of 23 SAS but 10 years later, and he magically finds all these things directly relating to the patrol, and finds the exact people who "claim" to have contacted the patrol seems even farther fetched. 

Take a little bit of each story, put it together, and then maybe you'll have half the story.  I personally, would rather believe parts of  McNabs and Ryans accounts because THEY were the ones ONE THE GROUND, not David Asher.  Plus, maybe some details were changed because of OPSEC.

It's sorta like this website, people only want you to comment if you have been there done that and have experience with the topic right.  Well McNab and Ryan went there and did that, not Asher.  My 2cents tho....and this threads a year old.....

 

[atticus]

....and this threads a year old.....

Yeah, I read an arcticle on the net about Bravo Two Zero and searched it here and found this and instead of just making a new topic I just asked in the already existing one. I was just thinking that 250 Iraqis against 8 (?) SAS seems a little far fetched.

 

[Island Ryhno]

Did any of you guys actually watch the "Real Bravo Two Zero" after, they should of just called the "Blame Andy McNab for everything" show. I believe that somewhere in the mix of the accounts (McNab, Asher et al) that there is the truth. I don't think any one book can be held as the complete truth.