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 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 '' Bra ...

'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 intelli ...

'' 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 Gurk ...

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 be ...

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 1989, ...

, and co-created the ITV

action series Action fiction is a literary genre that focuses on stories that involve high-stakes, high-energy, and fast-paced events. This genre includes a wide range of sub-genres, such as spy novels, adventure stories, tales of terror and intrigue ("cloak a ...

Ultimate Force ''Ultimate Force'' is a British television action drama series that was shown on ITV, which deals with the activities of Red Troop of the SAS (Special Air Service). The first episode was broadcast on 16 September 2002, and a total of four s ...

''. 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, England. The school was formally merged with Ryton Comprehensive School in 2011, and was renamed Charles Thorp Comprehensi ...

, 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 is ...

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 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 English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

, 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 John Richard Pilger (; born 9 October 1939) is an Australian journalist, writer, scholar, and documentary filmmaker. He has been mainly based in Britain since 1962. He was also once visiting professor at Cornell University in New York. Pilge ...

wrote in October 2009, "Incredibly, the Thatcher government had continued to support the defunct Pol Pot regime 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 harmoniz ...

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 the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

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 and irregul ...

(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 Ctesiphon. I ...

and North-Western Iraq, and eventually take out the Scud 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, 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 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 Australia ...

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, ''

'', 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 network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

's '' Hunting Chris Ryan'' 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 television network, channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. The n ...

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. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrolog ...

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

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'', 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. 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 * ''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 * ''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 ''Quick Reads'' are a series of short books by bestselling authors and celebrities. With no more than 128 pages, they are designed to encourage adults who do not read often, or find reading difficult, to discover the joy of books. Quick Reads are a ...

* ''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

* ''

'' (2002) - SSgt Johnny Bell * '' Hunting Chris Ryan'' (2003) - Himself * '' Elite World Cops'' (2008) - Himself * ''

Chris Ryan's Strike Back ''Chris Ryan's Strike Back'', also known as ''Strike Back: Origins'' on Cinemax, is a six-part British television series based on the novel of the same name written by best-selling author and former soldier of the Special Air Service, Chris Ryan ...

'' (2010) - Commanding Officer