Andy McNab

history

|serviceyears= 1976 - 1993 |rank= Sergeant |branch= British Army |commands= Bravo Two Zero |unit= Special Air Service |battles= The Troubles
First Gulf War |awards= Distinguished Conduct Medal
Military Medal |laterwork= Author }}

Andy McNab DCM MM (born 28 December 1959)»http://www.greymansland.com/bio.html is a former British Soldier, turned novelist. McNab came into public prominence in 1993, when he published his account of the failed SAS mission, Bravo Two Zero. He has subsequently written two autobiographies and a selection of fiction books, including a specially commissioned story for the Quick Reads Initiative to assist in improving adult literacy»http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/series/quick-reads/grey-man.htm. For security reasons, Andy McNab is a pseudonym»http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/andy-mcnab-the-hidden-face-of-war-533714.html.

Early life

| birthplace = | deathdate = | deathplace = | occupation = Ex-Soldier turned Novelist | genre = Action, Military | movement = | notableworks = Bravo Two Zero, Seven Troop | influences = | influenced = | website = »http://www.andymcnab.co.uk }}

Andy McNab was born on the 28 December, 1959, shortly after, he was abandoned on the steps of Guy's Hospital, in Southwark.»http://www.greymansland.com/bio.html He was brought up in Peckham, with his adoptive family, involving himself in petty criminality until being arrested for burglary.»http://www.greymansland.com/bio.html In 1976, shortly after his arrest, he aspired for a career as an army pilot, but failed the entry test. In the same year, he enlisted with the Royal Green Jackets, becoming a boy soldier of sixteen years old»http://www.andymcnab.co.uk/bio.php.

Military career

After McNab enlisted for the Royal Green Jackets in 1976, he was posted to Kent for his basic training, along with boxing for his regimental team»http://www.greymansland.com/andymcnabtimeline.html. After McNab's basic training, he was posted to the Rifle Depot, in Winchester. In 1977, McNab spent time in Gibraltar as part of his first operational posting, while with 2RGJ. From December 1977 to June 1978, McNab was posted to South Armagh, Northern Ireland as part of the British Army's intervention into the Northern Irish Troubles»http://www.greymansland.com/andymcnabtimeline.html. From 1978 to 1979, McNab returned to Armagh as a newly promoted Lance Corporal, during that time McNab kills for the first time at the age of 19, during a firefight with the PIRA. In 1982, after spending 8 years with the Royal Green Jackets, McNab decides to try and pass SAS Selection, after finally passing in 1984 he left RGJ, and transferred to the SAS»http://www.greymansland.com/andymcnabtimeline.html.

While Serving with B Squadron, 22 SAS for ten years, Andy McNab worked on both covert and overt operations worldwide»http://www.andymcnab.co.uk/bio.php. Including counter terrorism and drug operations in the Middle and Far East, South and Central America, and in Northern Ireland. McNab trained as a specialist in counter terrorism, prime target elimination, demolitions, weapons, tactics, covert surveillance roles and information gathering in hostile environments, and VIP protection»http://www.andymcnab.co.uk/bio.php. 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»http://www.andymcnab.co.uk/bio.php. , While a serving SAS soldier, McNab worked alongside the Delta Force, FBI, and the DEA. When he left the SAS in 1993, he was the most highly decorated serving soldier in the British Army. He now lectures on security and military related topics, in both the USA and the UK»http://www.andymcnab.co.uk/bio.php.

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.

During the First Gulf War, 1991, 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. An engagement 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, who was 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 B. After six months of medical treatment he was back on active service.

The 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»http://www.andymcnab.co.uk/bio.php?p=2.

Post military career

While writing Bravo Two Zero, Andy McNab assumed his pseudonym. 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, by Richard Tomlinson, a renegade MI6 spy, after the Iraq war McNab was part of a special training team, training MI6 recruits in sabotage and guerrilla warfare techniques.

Due to the extremely sensitive nature of his work while serving with the SAS, Andy McNab is the only author who has a legally binding contract, making him 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 organisations. For security, he is therefore forbidden to reveal either his face or his current location»http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/andy-mcnab-the-hidden-face-of-war-533714.html.

After leaving the Army, McNab developed and maintained a specialist training course for news crews, journalists and members of non-governmental organisations working in hostile environments. He has spent time in Hollywood as technical weapons advisor, and trainer on the Michael Mann film Heat helping to engineer 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, and fight technical advisor on the 2005 crime film Dirty»http://www.andymcnab.co.uk/bio.php?p=4.

In February 2007, McNab returned to Iraq for seven days as The Sun newspaper's security advisor with his old regiment the Royal Green Jackets. Here he researched the background for his new book, Crossfire.[http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007110295,00.html Hero McNab goes back to Iraq] The Sun, retrieved 27 February 2008

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 sold over 1.7 million copies, with Immediate Action selling 1.4 Million in the UK. To date it has been published in 17 countries and translated into 16 languages»http://www.andymcnab.co.uk/bio.php?p=4.

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»http://www.andymcnab.co.uk/bio.php?p=4.

McNab is the author of ten action thrillers, highly acclaimed for their authenticity.Remote Control was published in 1997, and was hailed as the most authentic thriller ever written selling 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, an 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»http://www.andymcnab.co.uk/bio.php?p=4.

After working on the Miramax film, "Heat", 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 currently finishing a film script for a forthcoming Hollywood blockbuster believed to be an adaptation of his 1999 thriller 'Crisis Four'»http://www.andymcnab.co.uk/bio.php?p=4.

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. McNab took part in E4's on 13 January 2008.