Steven Billy Mitchell (born 28 December 1959), usually known by the pseudonym and pen-name of Andy McNab, is a novelist 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-terr ...

soldier. He came into public prominence in 1993 when he published a book entitled '' Bravo Two Zero'' containing an account of a military mission which he led with the

(SAS) during the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

, for which he was awarded the

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

. He had previously been awarded the

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the British Armed Forces, armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, below commissioned o ...

in 1979 for gallantry in action whilst serving with the

Royal Green Jackets The Royal Green Jackets (RGJ) was an infantry regiment of the British Army, one of two "large regiments" within the Light Division (the other being The Light Infantry). History The Royal Green Jackets was formed on 1 January 1966 by the amalgam ...

in Northern Ireland. He has published a number of other novels and two autobiographies in addition to ''Bravo Two Zero''. He has also published a book on

psychopathy Psychopathy, or psychopathic personality, is a personality construct characterized by impaired empathy and remorse, along with bold, disinhibited, and egocentric traits. These traits are often masked by superficial charm and immunity ...

entitled '' The Good Psychopath's Guide to Success'', claiming that he exhibits many psychopathic traits.

Early life

McNab was born on 28 December 1959. He did not do well in school, and eventually attended nine schools in seven years. After dropping out of school McNab worked at various odd jobs, usually for friends and relatives, and was involved in petty criminality, finally being arrested for burglary in 1976. Partly inspired by his brother's time in the army, he wanted to join the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. He failed the entry test for training as an army pilot, but enlisted with the

at the age of sixteen after being released from juvenile detention. When McNab joined the army he was found to have the reading age of an eleven-year-old. Shortly before his seventeenth birthday he read his first book, entitled '' Janet and John''. Speaking in 2019, McNab recalled how "I can vividly remember the sense of pride and achievement I felt. It was meant for primary school children but I didn’t care ... From then on I read anything and everything I could get my hands on."

Military career

He was posted to

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

for his basic training, and boxed for his regimental team. After basic training, he was posted to the Rifle Depot in

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

. In 1977 he spent time in

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

as part of his first operational posting, while with 2nd Battalion, Royal Green Jackets. From December 1977 to June 1978, he was posted to South Armagh,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, as part of the British Army's

Operation Banner Operation Banner was the operational name for the British Armed Forces' operation in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 2007, as part of the Troubles. It was the longest continuous deployment in British military history. The British Army was initia ...

. In 1978 and 1979, he returned to Armagh as a newly promoted

Lance Corporal Lance corporal is a military rank, used by many English-speaking armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organisations. It is below the rank of corporal. Etymology The presumed origin of the rank of lance corp ...

, and claimed to have killed for the first time during a firefight with the

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...

. McNab wrote of the incident: "I remember vividly the first time I had to kill someone to stay alive. I was a 19-year-old soldier in Keady, South Armagh, and my patrol stumbled across six IRA soldiers, preparing for an ambush. When the shooting started, they were just 20 metres away from my patrol. I was scared, very scared." He was awarded the

for this incident. However, security sources later reported that the person McNab shot was only wounded and died as a result of injuries from a separate shootout later that day. In 1982, after six years' service with the Royal Green Jackets (RGJ), and having been promoted to the rank of sergeant, he applied for transfer into the

Regiment, which was approved by the RGJ. After failing his first attempt at United Kingdom Special Forces Selection, he passed in 1984, and was attached to the SAS, with which he remained for the rest of his career in the British Army. During his 10 years with "Air Troop", B Squadron, 22 SAS Regiment, he served with Al Slater, Frank Collins and Charles "Nish" Bruce. Writing in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' in November 2008, McNab describes Bruce as "one of my heroes." McNab worked on 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 controver ...

and overt operations including

counter terrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to com ...

and drug operations in the Middle East and Far East, South and Central America and

. 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. He worked on cooperative operations with police forces, prison services, anti-drug forces and Western-backed

guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...

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. During the

, McNab commanded an eight-man SAS patrol, designated ''Bravo Two Zero'', that was given the task of destroying underground communication links between

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

and north-west

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and with tracking

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 m ...

missile movements in the region. The patrol was dropped into Iraq on 22 January 1991, but was soon compromised, following which it attempted an escape on foot towards

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, the closest

coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

country. Three of the eight were killed, and four captured (including McNab) after three days on the run; one member, Chris Ryan, escaped. The captured men were held for six weeks before being released on 5 March. By that time, McNab was suffering from nerve damage to both hands, a dislocated shoulder, kidney and liver damage, and

hepatitis B Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the '' hepatitis B virus'' (HBV) that affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. It can cause both acute and chronic infection. Many people have no symptoms during an initial infection. ...

. After six months of medical treatment he was back on active service. Awarded both the Distinguished Conduct Medal and Military Medal during his military career, McNab claims to have been the British Army's most highly decorated serving soldier when he left the SAS in February 1993.

Post-military career

McNab assumed his pseudonym while writing ''Bravo Two Zero''. When he appeared on television to promote his books or to act as a special services expert, his face was shadowed to prevent identification. According to the book ''The Big Breach'', by

Richard Tomlinson Richard John Charles Tomlinson (born 13 January 1963) is a former officer of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). He argued that he was subjected to unfair dismissal from MI6 in 1995, and attempted to take his former employer to a tri ...

, a renegade

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

spy, McNab was part of a special training team after the Iraq War, training MI6 recruits in sabotage and

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrori ...

techniques. Due to the extremely sensitive nature of his work while serving with the SAS, McNab is bound by contract to submit his writings to the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

for review. 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 spent time in Hollywood as a technical weapons adviser and trainer on

Michael Mann Michael Kenneth Mann (born February 5, 1943) is an American film director, screenwriter, author and producer, best known for his stylized crime dramas. He has received a BAFTA Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards as well as nominations for four ...

's film ''

Heat In thermodynamics, heat is energy in transfer between a thermodynamic system and its surroundings by such mechanisms as thermal conduction, electromagnetic radiation, and friction, which are microscopic in nature, involving sub-atomic, ato ...

''. He was also the technical adviser on the 2005 crime film ''

Dirty Dirt is any matter considered unclean, especially when in contact with a person's clothes, skin, or possessions. In such cases, they are said to become dirty. Common types of dirt include: * Debris: scattered pieces of waste or remains * Du ...

''. In February 2007, McNab returned to Iraq for seven days as ''

The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...

'' newspaper's security adviser with 2nd Battalion,

The Rifles The Rifles is an infantry regiment of the British Army. Formed in 2007, it consists of four Regular battalions and three Reserve battalions. Each Regular battalion was formerly an individual battalion of one of the two large regiments of the ...

. McNab has written about his experiences in the SAS in three best-selling books, ''Bravo Two Zero'' (1993), ''Immediate Action'' (1995), and ''Seven Troop'' (2008). ''Bravo Two Zero'' sold over 1.7 million copies, with ''Immediate Action'' selling 1.4 million in the UK. 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. A

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

film of '' Bravo Two Zero'', starring

Sean Bean Sean Bean (born Shaun Mark Bean; 17 April 1959) is an English actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he made his professional debut in a production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1983 at The Watermill Theatre. Retaining his ...

, was shown on prime time

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

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. The veracity of McNab's first book, ''Bravo Two Zero'', has been questioned by Michael Asher, an explorer,

Arabist An Arabist is someone, often but not always from outside the Arab world, who specialises in the study of the Arabic language and Arab culture, culture (usually including Arabic literature). Origins Arabists began in Al Andalus, medieval Muslim ...

and former SAS reservist, who visited Iraq with a

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

film crew, and interviewed many eyewitnesses. Asher concluded that much of what McNab wrote was a fabrication, and that there was no evidence that the Bravo Two Zero patrol accounted for a single enemy casualty. Moreover, McNab's account and that of his comrade Chris Ryan are contradictory on many points. This has been corroborated by Peter Ratcliffe, who was

regimental sergeant major Regimental sergeant major (RSM) is an appointment that may be held by a warrant officer (WO) in the British Army, the Royal Marines, and the armies of many other Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations. It is also an actual rank in the Iri ...

of 22 SAS Regiment during the Gulf War, who stated that, in a debriefing to the entire Regiment, recorded on video, none of the patrol members mentioned contacts with large numbers of enemies or any of the other extraordinary incidents included in the books. Asher's conclusion was that the book's claim to be "the true story of an SAS patrol in action" was a fraud. McNab now lives in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

with his fifth wife. He is a director of military service recruitment, mentoring and Foundation organisation, ForceSelect. In August 2014, McNab was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue. In the

2017 Birthday Honours The 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours were awarded a ...

, McNab was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) for services to literacy and charity. The award recognised his charity work with The Reading Agency promoting literacy, particularly in young adults and prisoners. The award was gazetted under the name "Andrew McNab".

Fiction writing

McNab is the author of a number of action thrillers written with the help of a

ghostwriter A ghostwriter is a person hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often h ...

. The '' Nick Stone Missions'' are a successful series based on an ex-SAS soldier working on deniable operations for British intelligence. The series draws extensively on McNab's experiences and knowledge of Special Forces soldiering. The '' Boy Soldier Series'' was written with the co-operation of Robert Rigby and follows a boy named Danny Watts and his grandfather Fergus, apparently a rogue ex-SAS soldier. McNab has also written books for Quick Reads, a charity that supports

World Book Day World Book Day, also known as World Book and Copyright Day or International Day of the Book, is an annual event organized by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) to promote reading, publishing, and copyright ...

. BBC raw words offers exclusive audio versions of the latest Quick Reads by Andy McNab, ''Last Night Another Soldier'' (2010), read by Rupert Degas. Other fiction books include Audio Stories, Men at War series, Battlefield 3, Tom Buckingham series, and two young adult series: Dropzone Stories and The New Recruit series. McNab worked with

DICE A die (: dice, sometimes also used as ) is a small, throwable object with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. Dice are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, ro ...

serving as the game's consultant on military tactics for ''

Battlefield 3 ''Battlefield 3'' is a 2011 first-person shooter game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sixth main installment in the '' Battlefield'' series and a follow-up to '' Battlefield 2'' (2005). The game was released on Micr ...

''. He penned a tie-in novel called ''Battlefield 3: The Russian'', which follows the story of a

Spetsnaz GRU Spetsnaz GRU, formally known as Special Forces of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, () is the special forces (''spetsnaz'') of the GRU (Russian Federation), GRU, the foreign military intelligence agency of ...

commando Dmitri "Dima" Mayakovsky and his involvement against the PLR (People's Liberation & Resistance), an

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

insurgent An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare against a larger authority. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irregular forces face a large, well ...

group, as well as his connection to the antagonist. The novel was released on 25 October 2011.

Film work

After his work on the Miramax film ''Heat'', Miramax acquired the film rights to the first four of McNab's novels, and as of 2011 ''Echelon'' was in production, based on the book ''Firewall'' (2000). McNab is to co-produce and co-write the script and also act as technical adviser. In 2014, Luke Evans was cast as Tom Buckingham in ''Red Notice'' with

Nick Love Nick Love (born 24 December 1969) is an English film director and writer. His credits include the films '' The Football Factory'', '' The Business'', '' Goodbye Charlie Bright'', ''Outlaw'', '' The Sweeney'', a 2009 remake of football hooligan ...

as director. McNab is to consult as technical adviser and have a role in production as well. This did not end up happening.

Other work

McNab took part in E4's '' Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack'' on 13 January 2008. The Mobcast e-book platform he co-founded with Tony Lynch was sold to Tesco for £4.5 million; McNab's share was £1 million.

Books

Non-fiction

*'' Bravo Two Zero'' (1993) *''Immediate Action'' (1995) *''Seven Troop'' (2008) *''Spoken From The Front'' (2009) *''Spoken From The Front 2'' (2011) *'' The Good Psychopath's Guide to Success'' (2014 – co-writer Dr.

Kevin Dutton Kevin Dutton (born 1967) is a British psychologist and writer, specialising in the study of psychopathy. Work He is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, and a member of the Oxford Centre fo ...

) *''Sorted!: The Good Psychopath's Guide to Bossing Your Life (The Good Psychopath 2)'' (2015) *''The Hunt'' (2022)

Fiction

Nick Stone Missions #''Remote Control'' (17 February 1998) #''Crisis Four'' (22 August 2000) #''Firewall'' (5 October 2000) #''Last Light'' (1 October 2001) #''Liberation Day'' (1 October 2002) #''Dark Winter'' (3 November 2003) #''Deep Black'' (1 November 2004) #''Aggressor'' (1 November 2005) #''Recoil'' (6 November 2006) #''Crossfire'' (12 November 2007) #''Brute Force'' (3 November 2008) #''Exit Wound'' (5 November 2009) #''Zero Hour'' (25 November 2010) #''Dead Centre'' (15 September 2011) #''Silencer'' (24 October 2013) #''For Valour'' (23 October 2014) #''Detonator'' (22 October 2015) #''Cold Blood'' (20 October 2016) #''Line Of Fire'' (20 October 2017) #''Down to the Wire'' (November 2022) Boy Soldier Series (written with Robert Rigby) #''Boy Soldier'' (US title ''Traitor'', 5 May 2005) #''Payback'' (6 October 2005) #''Avenger'' (4 May 2006) #''Meltdown'' (3 May 2007) Quick Reads project #''The Grey Man'' (8 May 2006) #''Last Night Another Soldier'' (4 May 2010) #''Today Everything Changes'' (31 January 2013) #''On The Rock'' (4 February 2016) Audio stories #''Iraq Ambush'' (May 2007) #''Royal Kidnap'' (June 2007) #''Roadside Bomb'' (September 2007) #''Sniper'' (TBA ?) Dropzone Series ''(Young Adult)'' #''Dropzone Bk. 1'' (February 2010) #''Dropzone Bk. 2 – Terminal Velocity'' (March 2011) Men at War Series (written with Kym Jordan) #''War Torn'' (13 May 2010) #''Battle Lines'' (19 July 2012) Battlefield 3 #''Battlefield 3: The Russian'' (October 2011) Tom Buckingham Series #''Red Notice'' (25 October 2012) #''Fortress'' (22 May 2014) #''State Of Emergency'' (21 May 2015) Nathan Pike Series #''Shadow State'' (05 January 2023) The New Recruit – Liam Scott series ''(Young Adult)'' #''The New Recruit'' (20 December 2012) #''The New Patrol'' (30 January 2014) #''The New Enemy'' (15 January 2015) Street Soldier – Sean Harker ''(Young Adult)'' #''Street Soldier'' (11 August 2016) #''Silent Weapon'' (10 August 2017)

Television

* '' Andy McNab's Tour of Duty''

Notes

References

* * *

External links

Essay for BBC's This Week programme
*
Grey Man's Land
longstanding and respected fan site
BBC raw words – Quick Reads

Shotsmag Ezine Interview July 2012

Andy McNab at Lucas Alexander Whitley literary agents@The_Real_McNab Verified Twitter Account
{{DEFAULTSORT:McNab, Andy 1959 births 21st-century English novelists British Army personnel of the Gulf War British military personnel of The Troubles (Northern Ireland) Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English adoptees English male novelists English non-fiction writers British prisoners of war Gulf War prisoners of war Living people People from Southwark Recipients of the Distinguished Conduct Medal Recipients of the Military Medal Royal Green Jackets soldiers Special Air Service soldiers 21st-century English male writers English male non-fiction writers Psychopathy writers Prisoners of war held by Iraq British people imprisoned in Iraq 21st-century pseudonymous writers Military personnel from London