''Soldier Five – The Real Truth About the Bravo Two Zero Mission'' is the third book about the

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 ...

mission 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, ...

to have been written by a member of the eight-man patrol involved. It is published under the pseudonym "Mike Coburn",Moss, Stephen "Mission: the truth" ''The Guardian'', March 12, 2004
/ref> but the author is the member referred to as "Mark the Kiwi" in other accounts. It is more critical of the command structure than other accounts had been and the book was only published after a lengthy and expensive series of court battles, and by court order the resulting royalties go to the

UK Ministry of Defence The Ministry of Defence (MOD or MoD) is the department responsible for implementing the defence policy set by His Majesty's Government, and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces. The MOD states that its principal objectives are to ...

. The

New Zealand Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of New Zealand is the principal intermediate appellate court of New Zealand. It is also the final appellate court for a number of matters. In practice, most appeals are resolved at this intermediate appellate level, rather t ...

upheld the confidentiality contract signed by Coburn as a member of UK special forces, ruling that there was valid

consideration Consideration is a concept of English common law and is a necessity for simple contracts but not for special contracts (contracts by deed). The concept has been adopted by other common law jurisdictions. The court in '' Currie v Misa'' declar ...

, that it was not an

unconscionable bargain Unconscionability in English law is a field of contract law and the law of trusts, which precludes the enforcement of voluntary (or consensual) obligations unfairly exploiting the unequal power of the consenting parties. "Inequality of bargaining ...

, and that it was not the result of

duress Coercion () is compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner by the use of threats, including threats to use force against a party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to induce a desi ...

undue influence Undue influence (UI) is a psychological process by which a person's free will and judgement is supplanted by that of another. It is a legal term and the strict definition varies by jurisdiction. Generally speaking, it is a means by which a per ...

. However, the Court declined to order an injunction against its publication, noting that Coburn had not waived his right to

freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...

and that the matters contained in the book were now in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

.''Attorney-General for England and Wales v R'' 002NZLR 91 (CA) 'Soldier Five''/ref>

References

2004 non-fiction books Gulf War books British non-fiction books Works about the Special Air Service Works published under a pseudonym {{mil-hist-book-stub

See also

References