Colin Armstrong (born 1961), usually known by the pseudonym and pen-name of Chris Ryan, is an author, television presenter, security consultant and former

Special Air Service The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling and in 1950, it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-ter ...

sergeant. After the publication of fellow patrol member

Andy McNab Steven Billy Mitchell, (born 28 December 1959), usually known by the pseudonym and pen-name of Andy McNab, is a novelist and former British Army infantry soldier. He came into public prominence in 1993 when he published a book entitled ''Brav ...

's ''

Bravo Two Zero Bravo Two Zero was the call sign of an eight-man British Army Special Air Service (SAS) patrol, deployed into Iraq during the First Gulf War in January 1991. According to Chris Ryan's account, the patrol was given the task of gathering intel ...

'' in 1993, Ryan published his own account of his experiences during the

mission in 1995, entitled '' The One That Got Away''. While this has led to a very successful career in writing, both his and McNab's accounts of the Bravo Two Zero mission have been heavily criticised by their fellow patrol members and questioned by other SAS members about their authenticity. Since retiring from the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

Ryan has published several fiction and non-fiction books, including ''Strike Back'', which was subsequently adapted into a

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed ...

for

Sky 1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 19 ...

, and co-created the ITV action series '' Ultimate Force''. He has also presented or appeared in numerous television documentaries connected to the military or law enforcement.

Early life, education and military service

Ryan was born in

Rowlands Gill Rowlands Gill is a town situated along the A694, between Winlaton Mill and Hamsterley Mill, on the north bank of the River Derwent, in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. Within Gateshead's greenbelt, the town has a ...

in County Durham. After attending

Hookergate School Hookergate School was a secondary school and sixth form located in High Spen in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead The Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, North East ...

, he enrolled in the British Army at the age of 16. Ryan's cousin was a member of the

reservist A reservist is a person who is a member of a military reserve force. They are otherwise civilians, and in peacetime have careers outside the military. Reservists usually go for training on an annual basis to refresh their skills. This person i ...

23 SAS Regiment and invited Ryan to come up and ''"see what it's like to be in the army"''. Ryan did this nearly every weekend, almost passing selection several times, but he was too young to continue and do 'test week'. When he was old enough, he passed selection into 23 SAS. Shortly after that he began selection for the

regular The term regular can mean normal or in accordance with rules. It may refer to: People * Moses Regular (born 1971), America football player Arts, entertainment, and media Music * "Regular" (Badfinger song) * Regular tunings of stringed instrum ...

22 SAS Regiment and joined 'B' Squadron as a medic. Needing a parent regiment, Ryan and a soldier who had joined 22 SAS from the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

, spent eight weeks with the Parachute Regiment before returning to 'B' Squadron. He spent the next seven years carrying out both

covert Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...

and overt operations with the SAS around the world. One such example was the training of Khmer Rouge members to fight against the Vietnamese in Southeast Asia during the 1980s. Journalist John Pilger wrote in October 2009, "Incredibly, the Thatcher government had continued to support the defunct

Pol Pot regime Kampuchea ( km, កម្ពុជា ), officially known as Democratic Kampuchea (DK; km, កម្ពុជាប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ ) from 5 January 1976, was a one-party totalitarian state which encompassed modern-day Camb ...

in the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

and even sent the SAS to train his exiled troops in camps in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. Last March, the former SAS soldier Chris Ryan, now a best-selling author, lamented in a newspaper interview “when John Pilger, the foreign correspondent, discovered we were training the Khmer Rouge in the Far east ewere sent home and I had to return the £10,000 we’d been given for food and accommodation”."

Bravo Two Zero

During the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

, Ryan was a team member of the ill-fated eight-man SAS patrol, with the call sign

. The patrol was sent into

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

to "gather intelligence,... find a good LUP (lying up position) and set up an OP" on the

main supply route A main supply route (MSR) is the route or routes designated within an area of operations upon which the bulk of traffic flows in support of military operations and humanitarian operations. MSR is a term that is also used in insurgency An insu ...

(MSR) between

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesipho ...

and North-Western Iraq, and eventually take out the

Scud A Scud missile is one of a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It was exported widely to both Second and Third World countries. The term comes from the NATO reporting name attached to the mis ...

TELs. However they were compromised and forced to head towards Syria on foot. Ryan completed a tab, from an observation point on the Iraqi MSR between

and North-Western Iraq, to the Syrian Border. This march made SAS history as the "longest escape and evasion by an SAS trooper or any other soldier", covering more than SAS trooper Jack Sillito had in the

Sahara Desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

in 1942. During his escape, Ryan suffered injuries from drinking water contaminated with nuclear waste. Besides suffering severe

muscle atrophy Muscle atrophy is the loss of skeletal muscle mass. It can be caused by immobility, aging, malnutrition, medications, or a wide range of injuries or diseases that impact the musculoskeletal or nervous system. Muscle atrophy leads to muscle weakness ...

, he lost a potentially fatal and did not return to operational duties. Instead, he selected and trained potential recruits, before being honourably discharged from the SAS in 1994. On 29 June 1991 Ryan was awarded the

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land. The award ...

"in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the Gulf in 1991" although the award was not

gazette A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspaper ...

d until 15 December 1998 together with the equally belated announcement of Andy McNab's

Distinguished Conduct Medal The Distinguished Conduct Medal was a decoration established in 1854 by Queen Victoria for gallantry in the field by other ranks of the British Army. It is the oldest British award for gallantry and was a second level military decoration, ranki ...

Zaire

Ryan was also a member of an SAS team sent to protect the British Embassy in Kinshasa,

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

. The team were to ensure that all British diplomatic staff were safely evacuated from the country before the

First Congo War The First Congo War, group=lower-alpha (1996–1997), also nicknamed Africa's First World War, was a civil war and international military conflict which took place mostly in Zaire (present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo), with major spillo ...

. The operation was meant to last only three days, but eventually took one month.

Post-military career

Since leaving the SAS, Ryan wrote '' The One That Got Away'', which covers the account from his patrol report of the Bravo Two Zero mission. Both his and McNab's accounts have been heavily criticised by former territorial SAS member and explorer Michael Asher, who attempted to retrace the patrol's footsteps for TV and claimed to have debunked both accounts with the help of the then-SAS

regimental sergeant major Regimental sergeant major (RSM) is an appointment that may be held by warrant officers class 1 (WO1) in the British Army, the British Royal Marines and in the armies of many other Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, including Austral ...

Peter Ratcliffe a very good friend of Ashers. Ryan, now a best-selling author, has written more than 70 books, both fiction and non-fiction. Many of his works are well known, such as fictional works like ''Strike Back (2007)'', which was adapted into the

TV show A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed bet ...

, and ''Firefight (September 2008)''. He also writes fictional books for teenage readers, including the Alpha Force Series and "Code Red", and has written a romantic novel, ''The Fisherman's Daughter'', under the pseudonym Molly Jackson. In addition to his writing Ryan has contributed to several television series and video games. In 2002 Ryan co-created and appeared in ITV's action series, '' Ultimate Force'', playing the role of Blue Troop leader Staff Sergeant Johnny Bell in the first series as well as acting as the military adviser for the video game I.G.I.-2: Covert Strike, helping to make the game more accurate to real-life military operations, tactics, weapons and equipment. Ryan was the star of

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...

's ''

Hunting Chris Ryan ''Hunting Chris Ryan'' is a documentary produced by the BBC in 2003. It comprised three hour-long episodes, each pitting SAS veteran Chris Ryan against a four-man "Hunter Force" whilst he completed a set objective, his mission being evasion and u ...

'' in 2003 which later aired on the

Military Channel American Heroes Channel (formerly Military Channel and originally Discovery Wings Channel) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. The network carries prog ...

as 'Special Forces Manhunt'. In 2004 Ryan produced several programmes titled ''Terror Alert: Could You Survive'', in each programme he demonstrated how to survive disasters including,

flooding A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caus ...

, nuclear terrorist attack, mass blackouts, and plane hijackings. In 2005, Ryan presented a

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1 ...

show called ''How Not to Die'', detailing how to survive various life-threatening situations, including violent burglary, mugging, and violent attacks. In 2007 Ryan trained and managed a six-man team to represent Team GB at Sure for Men's Extreme Pamplona Chase in Spain during the

Running of the Bulls A running of the bulls ( es, encierro, from the verb ''encerrar'', 'to corral, to enclose'; oc, abrivado, literally 'haste, momentum'; ca, correbous, 'run-bulls') is an event that involves running in front of a small group of bulls, typicall ...

and also appeared in an episode of the

Derren Brown Derren Brown (born 27 February 1971) is an English mentalist, illusionist, painter, and author. He began performing in 1992, making his television debut with ''Derren Brown: Mind Control'' in 2000, and has since produced several more shows ...

series, ''Mind Control with Derren Brown'', where he booby-trapped a course for Brown to follow whilst blindfolded. Ryan presented the television series ''

Elite World Cops Elite World Cops is a television series starring former SAS soldier and author Chris Ryan. Ryan travels the world meeting some of the worlds most elite police units. The format of the show usually involves Ryan training with the unit, observing t ...

'', also broadcast as ''Armed and Dangerous'', which aired on Bravo in 2008. In the show, Ryan spends time with various law enforcement agencies around the world, giving him an insight to the war on terrorism and drug trade but from a law enforcement perspective.

Personal life

Ryan has a daughter. His experiences in Iraq caused him to suffer from

post traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...

. Following his consumption of radioactive water during his Bravo Two Zero escape, he was warned not to have any children in the future.

Books

Ryan has written the following books:

Non-fiction

* ''The One That Got Away'' (1995) * ''Chris Ryan's SAS Fitness Book'' (1999) * ''Chris Ryan's Ultimate Survival Guide'' (2003) * ''Fight to Win: Deadly Skills of the Elite Forces'' (2009) * ''Safe: How To Stay Safe in a Dangerous World'' (2017) * ''The History of the SAS'' (2019)

Fiction

Agent 21 * ''Agent 21'' (2010) * ''Reloaded'' (2012) * ''Codebreaker'' (2013) * ''Deadfall'' (2014) * ''Under Cover'' (2015) * ''Endgame'' (2016)

Alpha Force {{short description, Novel series by Chris Ryan Alpha Force is a series of novels written by Chris Ryan, formerly of the Special Air Service. The books are adventure novels aimed at teenagers. The eponymous ''Alpha Force'' are a group of five teenag ...

* ''Survival'' (2002) * ''Rat-catcher'' (2002) * ''Desert Pursuit'' (2003) * ''Hostage'' (2003) * ''Red Centre'' (2004) * ''Hunted'' (2004) * ''Blood Money'' (2005) * ''Fault Line'' (2005) * ''Black Gold'' (2005) * ''Untouchable'' (2005) Code Red * ''Flash Flood'' (2006) * ''Wildfire'' (2007) * ''Outbreak'' (2007) * ''Vortex'' (2008) * ''Twister'' (2008) * ''Battleground'' (2009) Danny Black * ''Masters of War'' (2013) * ''Hunter Killer'' (2014) * ''Hellfire'' (2015) * ''Bad Soldier'' (2016) * ''Warlord'' (2017) * ''Head Hunters'' (2018) * ''Black Ops'' (2019) * ''Zero 22'' (2020) Extreme * ''Hard Target'' (2012) * ''Night Strike'' (2013) * ''Most Wanted'' (2014) * ''Silent Kill'' (2015)

Geordie Sharp {{multiple issues, {{single source, date=July 2019 {{fancruft, date=July 2019 {{notability, date=July 2019 Geordie Sharp is a fictional character featured in a series of military novels written by Chris Ryan. He is a Sergeant in the British Speci ...

* ''Stand By, Stand By'' (1996) * ''Zero Option'' (1997)'' * ''The Kremlin Device'' (1998) * ''Tenth Man Down'' (1999) Joe Bowman * ''Manhunter'' (2021) Matt Browning * ''Greed'' (2003) * ''The Increment'' (2004) Special Forces Cadets * ''Siege'' (2018) * ''Missing'' (2019) * ''Justice'' (2019) * ''Ruthless'' (2020) * ''Hijack'' (2020) * ''Assassin'' (2021) Strike Back * ''Strike Back'' (2007) ''Series is prequel to the novel "Strike Back" (2007)'' * ''Deathlist'' (2016) * ''Shadow Kill'' (2017) * ''Global Strike'' (2018) * ''Red Strike'' (2019) * ''Circle of Death'' (2020) Quick Reads * ''One Good Turn'' (2008) Other * ''The Hit List'' (2000) * ''The Watchman'' (2001) * ''Land of Fire'' (2002) * ''Blackout'' (2005) * ''Ultimate Weapon'' (2006) * ''Firefight'' (2008) * ''The Fisherman's Daughter (2009) (as Molly Jackson) * ''Who Dares Wins'' (2009) * ''The Kill Zone'' (2010) * ''Medal of Honor'' (2010) * ''Killing for the Company'' (2011) * ''Osama'' (2012) * ''Outcast'' (2022)

Filmography

* '' Ultimate Force'' (2002) - SSgt Johnny Bell * ''

'' (2003) - Himself * ''

'' (2008) - Himself * '' Chris Ryan's Strike Back'' (2010) - Commanding Officer