Andy McNab

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Andy McNab
28 December 1959 -
Place of birth London, England
Allegiance Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service 1976 - 1993
Rank Sergeant
Unit Special Air Service
Commands held Bravo Two Zero
Battles/wars The Troubles
Gulf War
Awards Distinguished Conduct Medal
Military Medal
Other work Author

Andy McNab DCM MM (born December 28, 1959) is a British former soldier turned novelist. McNab came to public prominence in 1993 when he wrote an account about the failed SAS mission Bravo Two Zero during the Gulf War. He has subsequently written an autobiography and a number of works of fiction, including a specially commissioned story for the Quick Reads Initiative to assist adult literacy. Andy McNab is a pseudonym; his real name is unknown.

Contents

[edit] Background

Andy McNab
Born December 28, 1959 (1959-12-28) (age 48)
Occupation Ex-Soldier turned Novelist
Genres Action, Military
Notable work(s) Bravo Two Zero
Official website

Andy McNab came originally from London, an adopted son. He wanted to be a helicopter pilot, but after failing the entrance test, he instead joined the Royal Green Jackets. He served in a variety of places including Northern Ireland and eventually tried for selection to the SAS, succeeding at the second attempt. McNab's real name is not known to the public; he assumed the pseudonym Andy McNab when writing Bravo Two Zero. When he appears on television to promote his books or to act as a special services expert, his face is shadowed to prevent identification. As Larry King put it when McNab appeared on the Larry King Live show on CNN: "He's in shadow for his security, as he is wanted dead by some terrorist groups." According to the book The Big Breach (ISBN 1-903813-01-8), by Richard Tomlinson, a renegade MI6 spy, after the Iraq war McNab was part of a special training team, readying new MI6 recruits in sabotage and guerrilla warfare techniques.

According to the biography published in Last Light (Pocket Books printing March 2003, ISBN 0-7434-0629-X):

Andy McNab is a former member of the British SAS, one of the world's toughest and most respected elite special-forces commando units. Involved in covert and overt operations on five continents, McNab worked alongside Delta Force, the FBI, and the DEA. When he left the regiment in 1993, he was the most highly decorated serving soldier in the British Army. He is now a sought-after lecturer on security and military topics, and remains closely tied to the intelligence communities on both sides of the Atlantic.... Due to the extremely sensitive nature of his work with the SAS, Andy McNab is the only author who has to submit his fiction to the British Ministry of Defence for review, and he is still believed to be wanted by a number of the world's terrorist organizations. He is therefore forbidden to reveal either his face or his current location.

In his autobiography Immediate Action, McNab describes his involvement in a number of operations in Northern Ireland prior to his SAS selection, during which time he was in the Royal Green Jackets. During one such episode, he reveals his part in the shooting and killing of IRA operatives during a foot patrol. McNab also developed and runs a specialist training course for news crews, journalists and members of non-governmental organizations working in hostile environments, he has spent time in Hollywood as technical weapons advisor and trainer on the Michael Mann film Heat, and fight technical advisor on the 2005 crime film Dirty. In February 2007, McNab returned to Iraq for seven days in his position as The Sun newspaper security advisor with his old regiment the Royal Green Jackets. Here he researched the background for his new book, Crossfire.[1]

McNab joined the infantry in 1976 as a boy soldier. In 1984 he was badged as a member of 22 Regiment SAS. He served in B Squadron 22 SAS for ten years and worked on both covert and overt special operations worldwide, including anti-terrorist and anti-drug operations in the Middle and Far East, South and Central America and in 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 cooperative operations with police forces, prison services, anti-drug forces and western backed guerilla movements as well as on conventional special operations. In Northern Ireland he spent two years working as an undercover operator with 14 Intelligence Company, going on to become an instructor.

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. In the Gulf War, McNab commanded the famous Bravo Two Zero patrol, an eight man patrol tasked with destroying underground communication links between Baghdad and north-west Iraq and with finding and destroying mobile Scud missile launchers. The patrol infiltrated Iraq in January 1991, but were soon compromised. A fire fight with Iraqi troops ensued and the patrol was forced to escape and evade on foot to try and reach neutral 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 was McNab, held for six weeks and tortured. By the time he was released he was suffering from nerve damage to both hands, a dislocated shoulder, kidney and liver damage and had contracted hepatitis. After six months of medical treatment he was back on active service.

The most highly decorated patrol since the Boer War, the truly heroic exploits of the Bravo Two Zero patrol have been recognised the world over and, in the words of the patrol's commanding officer 'will remain in Regimental history forever'. Awarded both the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) and Military Medal (MM) during his military career, McNab was the British Army's most highly decorated serving soldier when he finally left the SAS in February 1993.

McNab has been the centre of much controversy regarding his exploitation of Bravo Two Zero to make money.

[edit] Post-SAS work

Andy McNab has written about his experiences in the SAS in two bestselling books, Bravo Two Zero (1993) and Immediate Action (1995). Bravo Two Zero is the highest selling war book of all time and has sold over 1.7 million copies in the UK. To date it has been published in 17 countries and translated into 16 languages. The CD spoken word version of Bravo Two Zero, narrated by McNab, sold over 60,000 copies and earned a silver disc. The BBC's film of Bravo Two Zero, starring Sean Bean, was shown on primetime BBC 1 television in 1999 and released on DVD in 2000. Immediate Action, McNab's autobiography, spent 18 weeks at the top of the best-seller lists following the lifting of an ex-parte injunction granted to the Ministry of Defence in September 1995. Immediate Action has sold over 1.4 million copies in the UK.

McNab is the author of ten fast action thrillers, highly acclaimed for their authenticity, and all Sunday Times bestsellers. Published in 1997, Remote Control was hailed as the most authentic thriller ever written and has sold over half a million copies in the UK. McNab's subsequent thrillers, Crisis Four, Firewall, Last Light, Liberation Day, Dark Winter, Deep Black, Aggressor, Recoil and Crossfire have all gone on to sell equally well. The central character in all the books is Nick Stone, a tough ex-SAS soldier working as a 'K' on deniable operations for British intelligence. McNab's fiction draws extensively on his experiences and knowledge of Special Forces soldiering. He has been officially registered by Neilsen Bookscan as the bestselling British thriller writer of the year.

When McNab was technical weapons advisor and trainer on the hit Michael Mann film Heat (1995) he spent five months in Hollywood working closely with Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Val Kilmer. As well as advising on weapons handling and use, McNab was drafted in to work out in detail how master-thief De Niro would go about pulling off robberies on an armoured car and a bank, and how cop Al Pacino would go about tracking him down and stopping him. Miramax has acquired the film rights to the first four of McNab's novels, and Crisis Four is currently in production, co-produced by McNab himself. Also a director of a Hereford based security company. He is also involved in training videos for the Ministry of Defence, lectures for the FBI and does motivational talks for large corporations on both sides of the Atlantic. He is also currently finishing a film script for a forthcoming Hollywood blockbuster believed to be an adaptation of his 1999 thriller 'Crisis Four'.

In conjunction with Spoken Group Ltd, Andy McNab is pioneering spoken drama for download from the internet and to mobile phones. These stories include real battle field sound effects. This will be the second story available for download.

McNab took part in E4's Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack on 13 January 2008.

[edit] Books

[edit] Non-fiction

  • Bravo Two Zero (1993)
  • Immediate Action (1995)
  • Seven Troop (TBA September 2008)

[edit] Fiction

Nick Stone Missions

Boy Soldier series (written with Robert Rigby)

  • Boy Soldier (US title Traitor, May 5, 2005)
  • Payback (October 6, 2005)
  • Avenger (May 4, 2006)
  • Meltdown (May 3, 2007)

Quick Reads project

  • The Grey Man (May 8, 2006)

Audio Stories

  • Iraq Ambush (May 2007)
  • Royal Kidnap (June 2007)
  • Roadside Bomb (September 2007)
  • Sniper (TBA 2008)

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Hero McNab goes back to Iraq The Sun, retrieved February 27, 2008

[edit] References

  • Peter, Ratcliffe (2000). Eye of the Storm: Twenty-Five Years in Action with the SAS. Michael O'Mara Books. ISBN 978-1854798091. 
  • Asher, Michael (2002). The Real Bravo Two Zero: The Truth Behind Bravo Two Zero. Cassell Military. ISBN 978-0304365548. 
  • Coburn, Mike (2004). Soldier Five: The Real Truth About The Bravo Two Zero Mission. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 978-1840189070. 

[edit] External links