Review (PDF)

The One That Got Away

The SAS mission conducted behind Iraqi lines is one of the most famous stories of courage and survival in modern warfare. Of the eight members of the SAS regiment who set off, only one escaped capture. This is his story. Late on the evening of 24 January 1991 the patrol was compromised deep behind enemy lines in Iraq. A fierce fire-fight left the eight men miraculously unscathed, but they were forced to run for their lives. Their aim was to reach the Syrian border, 120 kilometres to the north-west, but during the first night the patrol accidentally broke into two groups, five and three. Chris Ryan found himself left with two companions. Nothing had prepared them for the vicious cold of the desert winter, and they began to suffer from hypothermia. During the night one of the men was to disappear in a blinding blizzard. The next day a goat-herd came across the two survivors. Chris's remaining partner, went with him in search of food and was never to return. Left on his own, Chris Ryan beat off an Iraqi attack and set out alone. His greatest adventure was only just beginning. This is the story of courage under fire, of hairbreadth escapes, of the best trained soldiers in the world fighting against adverse conditions, and of one man's courageous refusal to lie down and die.

File Size: 5247 KB

Print Length: 418 pages

Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0099556677

Publisher: Cornerstone Digital (May 4, 2009)

Publication Date: May 4, 2009

Sold by:  Digital Services LLC

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0099460157

ISBN-13: 978-0099460152

ASIN: B0031RDVD2

Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

X-Ray: Not Enabled

Word Wise: Enabled

Lending: Not Enabled

Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #1,077,766 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) #56 in Books > History > Middle East > Kuwait #467 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > Americas > United States > Military History > Iraq War #823 in Books > History > Middle East > Iraq

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!

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