SAS Bravo Three Zero: The Gripping True Story

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Des Powell was a member of the Parachute Regiment who got selected for the SAS and during a twenty year career with 'Them' he was involved in Op Granby as part of the Scud hunting patrols Bravo One Zero, Bravo Two Zero and Bravo Three Zero. Because of a malfunctioning emergency radio that allowed them only to send messages and not receive them, the patrol did not realise that while trying to reach overhead allied jets, they had in fact been heard by a US jet pilot. The jet pilots were aware of the patrol's problems but were unable to raise them. Many sorties were flown to the team's last known position and their expected exfiltration route in an attempt to locate them and to hinder attempts by Iraqi troops trying to capture them.

The men of Bravo One Zerostepped off the chopper, took one look at the flat desert devoid of any cover and decided no way were they deploying into all of that. But Andy NcNab’s famed Bravo Two Zeropatrol did deploy, with fatal results – all bar one being captured or killed. How does your time training for and serving in the SF world help you today in your Civvy St, and how does it hinder you? Both Mitchell's and Armstrong's earlier accounts were critiqued by SAS reserve veteran Michael Asher in The Real Bravo Two Zero ( ISBN 0-304-36554-8). In 2001, Asher followed the original path of the patrol, interviewing local Iraqis who witnessed the events. The book was released in 2002.

There was clearly something very wrong in SAS at the time. I assume that it's all been swept up and fixed. For sure there won't be an authoritative book in public domain in my lifetime. Although given that the SAS wannabes of the Pathfinder Platoon made similar mistakes (insufficient cold weather gear) I doubt it. Des Powell is an member of the Parachute Regiment who got selected for the SAS and during a twenty year career with them he was involved in Op Granby as part of the Scud hunting patrols Bravo One Zero, Bravo Two Zero and Brave Three Zero. There were three SAS patrols that fateful January 1991 morning: Bravos One, Two (Andy McNab) and Three Zero. It was the opening hours of the Gulf War and the SAS were flown deep behind enemy lines to hunt down Saddam’s Scud missiles. The first public literary mention of the patrol was in the autobiography of Lieutenant-General Peter de la Billière, the commander of the British Forces during the Gulf War. Storm Command ( ISBN 0002551381) only mentioned the patrol in passing. The book was released in 1992.

However the stakes couldn’t have been higher. Saddam Hussain had begun to launch Scud missiles at Israel, trying to draw the Arab Alliance against him into switching sides and provoke World War III. Bravo Two Zero was the call sign of an eight-man British Army Special Air Service (SAS) patrol, deployed into Iraq during the First Gulf War in January 1991. According to Chris Ryan's account, the patrol was given the task of gathering intelligence, finding a good lying-up position (LUP), setting up an observation post (OP), and monitoring enemy movements, especially Scud missile launchers [1] :15 on the Iraqi Main Supply Route (MSR) between Baghdad and North-Western Iraq; however, according to Andy McNab's account, the task was to find and destroy Iraqi Scud missile launchers along a 250km (160mi) stretch of the MSR. [2] :35 There were three patrols that fateful January 1991 morning: Bravo One Zero, Bravo Two Zero and Bravo Three Zero. It was the opening hours of the Gulf War and the SAS were flown deep behind enemy lines to hunt down Saddam’s Scud missiles, the use of which threatened a Third World War.Even as warnings came in that McNab’s patrol was on the run,Bravo Three Zeroremained undetected – the furthest Coalition forces behind Iraqi lines. Slipping through enemy positions, a string of targets were taken out. But with the desert turning bitter and snow starting to fall, they were forced to fight a running battle against the elements as much as the enemy. ITV produced a one-off dramatic version of Armstrong's book, also titled The One That Got Away, in 1996. The film starred Paul McGann as Ryan and was directed by Paul Greengrass. Even as warnings came in that McNab’s patrol was on the run, Bravo Three Zeroremained undetected – the furthest Coalition forces behind Iraqi lines. Slipping through enemy positions, a string of targets were taken out. But with the desert turning bitter and snow starting to fall, they were forced to fight a running battle against the elements as much as the enemy.