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 intelligence, finding a good lying-up position (LUP), setting up an observation post (OP), and monitoring enemy movements, especially Scud missile launchers[1]: 15 on the Iraqi Main Supply Route (MSR) between Baghdad and northwestern Iraq; however, according to Andy McNab's account, the task was to find and destroy Iraqi Scud missile launchers along a 250 km stretch of the MSR.
Both accounts also conflict with SAS's Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) at the time of the patrol, Peter Ratcliffe, in his 2000 memoir, Eye of the Storm.
Michael Asher, a former soldier with the SAS, went to Iraq and traced in person the route of the patrol and interviewed local Iraqi witnesses to its actions; afterward, he alleged that much of Mitchell's Bravo Two Zero and Armstrong's The One That Got Away were fabrication.
In January 1991, during the prelude to the Coalition ground invasion of Iraq, B Squadron 22 SAS were stationed at a forward operating base in Saudi Arabia.
On the night of 22/23 January, the patrol were transported into Iraqi airspace by a RAF Chinook helicopter, along with Bravo Three Zero and their Land Rover 110 vehicles.
Ryan states the patrol was intentionally dropped only 2 km (1.2 mi) from the observation post because of heavy pack weights.
Shortly afterwards, as they were exfiltrating (according to McNab's account), a firefight with Iraqi armoured personnel carriers and soldiers began.
British standard operating procedure (SOP) states that in the case of an emergency or no radio contact, a patrol should return to their original infiltration point, where a helicopter will land briefly every 24 hours.
This plan was complicated by the incorrect location of the initial landing site; the patrol reached the designated emergency pickup point, but the helicopter never appeared.
Ratcliffe later revealed that this was due to an illness suffered by the pilot while en route, necessitating his abandoning his mission on this occasion.
Standard operating procedure mandates that before an infiltration of any team behind enemy lines, an exfiltration route should be planned so that members of the patrol know where to go if they get separated or something goes wrong.
The log read "Bravo Two Zero made TACBE contact again, it was reasonable to assume that they were moving south",[16] though in fact the patrol headed north-west towards the Syrian border.
According to Ratcliffe, the change in plan nullified all efforts over the following days by allied forces to locate and rescue the team.
McNab has been criticised for refusing advice from superiors to include vehicles in the mission (to be left at an emergency pickup point) which would have facilitated an easier exfiltration.
[citation needed] During the night of 24/25 January,[6]: 118 while McNab was trying to contact a passing Coalition aircraft using a TACBE communicator, the patrol inadvertently became separated into two groups.
"[6]: 246 On the evening of 25 January, Ryan, MacGown and Phillips left the tank berm they had stayed in during the day and headed north.
[1]: 73 As they continued, Phillips' condition worsened to the point where he mistook his black gloves for the colour of his own hands, and began yelling out loud.
[2]: 339 According to the SAS regimental roll of honour, it states that Phillips died of exposure while evading capture in Iraq on 22 January 1991 at the age of 36.
[1]: 221 According to McNab's secondary account of these events, the old goat herder left MacGown with directions to a hut, where he found two vehicles.
They exited the vehicle with plans to rendezvous on the other side of the checkpoint, but the driver alerted the police, and the group were forced to continue on foot.
"[2]: 66 The rucksack contained 25 kilograms (3.9 st; 55 lb) of sandbags and observation post equipment, seven days worth of rations, spare batteries for the radio, demolition equipment (including PE4 plastic explosive, detonators, and both Claymore and Elsie anti-personnel mines),[2]: 62 and intravenous drips and fluids for emergencies.
[1]: 38 [2]: 90 Due to a missing shipment within the squadron,[1]: 18 Phillips was the only member who carried a backup weapon, a Browning Hi-Power pistol.
