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Andy McNab joined the infantry in 1976 as a boy soldier. In 1984 he was badged as a member of 22 SAS Regiment. He served in B Squadron 22 SAS for nine years and worked on both covert and over special operations worldwide, including anti-terrorist and anti-drug operations in the Middle and Far East, South and Central America and Northern Ireland.
Trained as a specialist in counter terrorism, prime target elimination, demolitions, weapons and tactics, covert surveillance and information gathering in hostile environments and VIP protection, McNab worked on co-operative operations with police forces, prison services, anti-drug force and western backed guerrilla movements as well as on conventional special operations. In Northern Ireland he spent two years working as an undercover operator with 14th Intelligence Group, going on to become an instructor.
Andy McNab also worked as an instructor on the SAS selection and training team and instructed foreign Special Forces in counter terrorism, hostage rescue and survival training.
The Gulf War:
In the Gulf War, Andy McNab commanded the famous Bravo Two Zero patrol, an eight man patrol tasked with destroying underground communication links between Baghdad and north-west Iraq in January 1991, but were soon compromised. A fierce fire fight with Iraqi troops ensued and the patrol was forced to escape and evade on foot to Syria. Three of the eight men were killed four were captured after three days on the run one escaped.
One of the four taken prisoner, McNab was held for six weeks and was relentlessly and savagely tortured. By the time he was released he was suffering from nerve damage to both hands, a dislocated shoulder, kidney and liver damage. He had also contracted hepatitis. After six months of medical treatment he was back on active service.
The truly heroic exploits of the Bravo Two Zero patrol have been recognised the world over and, in the word of the patrols commanding officer will remain in Regimental history forever.
Awarded both the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) and Military Medal (MM) during his military career. Andy McNab was the British Army’s most highly decorated serving soldier when he finally left the SAS in February 1993.
POST SAS:
Andy McNab has also written about his experiences in the SAS in two best selling books Bravo Two Zero (1993) and Immediate Action (1995). Bravo Two Zero is the highest selling war book of all time. It sold 1.5 million copies in the UK alone. To date it has been published in seventeen countries and translated into sixteen languages. The CD spoken word version narrated by McNab sold over 600,000 copies in the UK and earned a silver disc. The BBCs film of Bravo Two Zero, starring Sean Bean, was a prime time hit when broadcast in two parts in January 1999. It will be released theatrically worldwide, and is a bestselling BBC video.
Books:
Immediate Action was McNab’s autobiography. It spent eighteen weeks at the top of the bestseller lists. This was following the lifting on an ex-parte injunction granted to the Ministry of Defence in September 1995. It has sold almost one and a half million copies in the UK alone.
McNab’s first novel Remote Control was published in 1997 and was a Sunday Times number one bestseller. His second thriller, Crisis Four, was published in 1999. It was on the Sunday Times bestseller list for three and a half months. His novel, Firewall was published in October 2000. To date Andy has published over 50 books.
McNab has written regularly for The Sunday Times, The Times, Mail on Sunday, The Sun and The Daily Mirror.
Outside his writing career, Andy McNab was technical weapons adviser and trainer on the hit Michael Mann film Heat. He spent five months on set in Hollywood.
McNab was a major contributor to the BBC 2 TV Timewatch documentary on Hannibal. It was fronted by General Norman Schwarzkopf. Andy was also the advisor and narrator on the Ultimate Warrior video.
Also a director of a Hereford based security company, McNab developed and ran a specialist training course. This was for news crews, journalists and also members of non-government organisations working in hostile environments (including war zones). The course was the only one of its kind in the world.
