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56 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Man, those SAS guys are tough! But..., June 5, 2002
This is a great tale of evasion and escape in a hostile environment when the real God of War(Murphy, not Mars or Sun Tzu!)catches up to this SAS team. It tells the rest of the "Bravo Two Zero" story and fills in the details after the unit inadvertently split-up. Ryan's trek out of Iraq to Syria in the worst weather, over difficult terrain and with enemies all around, is a true epic and a testament to the courage and fortitude of the SAS, and to Chris Ryan in particular. That being said, this book is a textbook of how NOT to plan and execute a strategic reconnaisance/sabotage mission! The mission was thrown together with poor intell, poorly planned and thought out, and even more poorly supported(no pistols, inadequate maps/photos, not enough ammo!) Prior to insertion, Ryan notes that they left their tentage and warm clothing behind because, well, Iraq is a desert, and of course, deserts are hot! Don't these guys know what the temperature does at night, in the winter, in the desert? Even Ryan acknowledges that leaving their vehicles was a mistake(they were the only team to elect to walk in from their insertion point, carrying 265 lbs of gear each!) Of all the British SAS and American Special Forces teams inserted into Iraq, the ones on foot were in the greatest peril once they were discovered. And these guys had planned to sabotage a fiber optic link with explosives--so not only would they be on foot, deep in enemy territory, they were going to announce their presence to the Iraqis! Nowadays, with the world population continuing to explode, the ability of a group of commandos to sneak around without discovery becomes more and more difficult. There are just too many people and dogs! Stealth is fine but you need good communications and a SPEEDY(ground vehicle or air) exfiltration plan(that your headquarters knows about--the rescue teams were looking in the wrong direction for this team!). To top it off, Bravo-2-0 was not a true "team." Though then men knew each other, they had not trained together as a small unit prior to being assembled for this mission.
With regard to communications, the radio failure of this team is inexcusable. They were given the wrong frequencies by their HQ! What an ammateurish mistake! Over half a century ago, the British 1st Airborne jumped into Holland for Operation Market-Garden, with the wrong radio crystals--guess what--no commo! Don't these SAS guys read any history? And speaking of history, I also have to take exception to Ryan's statement that Schwarzkopf didn't like elite units because the US Army Special Forces made "a hash of things in Vietnam..." The Green Berets were actually one of the few positives during the Vietnam war--their individual and collective successes at fighting a guerilla war are the stuff of legend. Schwarzkopf and other conventional soldiers have always resented elite organizations, for a variety of reasons, some practical, but mostly political, personal, and emmotional. Corporal Chris Ryan's endurance, bravery, physical strength, and military skill were demonstrated by his being the only member of the team to avoid capture or death. I just hope that both British and U.S. Special Operations personnel can use the entire experience to prevent similar circumstances occuring in the future. And, if you couldn't guess, I am retired US Army Special Forces.
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