A Picture from History: Bravo Two Zero

The Gulf War raged, and Coalition forces faced a serious issue — Iraq’s use of mobile Scud missile launchers. 

Highly mobile, these missiles can easily hide from aircraft, as they ride in, launch, and then beat a hasty retreat.

They’re not the most potent of missiles, but the damage they’ve done up to that point was severe. If they continued, the war would escalate. 

So, the men of the SAS stepped up to the plate. 

Bravo Two Zero

One 8-man SAS team — labeled Bravo Two Zero — undertook hunting Scuds behind enemy lines in Iraq. And the mission would make them world-famous. 

As the men landed at the drop zone, they quickly realized that things were wrong.

Dropped right on top of an enemy position with virtually zero cover, the ground proved too hard for any respectable observation post.

Their radio gear didn’t work and they’d been issued a map of the area from 1944. In short, things looked very grim. 

The next day, the men were spotted by a local shepherd who alerted the local Iraqi militia to the SAS team’s presence. Bravo Two Zero realized they must abort the mission and head for the escape route. 

There was only one problem…they’d been given the wrong escape route. 

A Chinook was sent back to retrieve the men, but it suffered an in-flight emergency and turned back. 

The men attempted to use tactical beacons to hail Coalition aircraft for a rescue, but in the process, they were separated from each other.

Temperatures reached below freezing in the desert — so cold that it began to snow. One of the men succumbed to hypothermia.

In their quest to gain transportation by commandeering vehicles, the rest of the crew was either captured or killed by the Iraqis. They spent the remainder of the Gulf War bouncing from prison to prison and tortured.

Chris Ryan

Only one man successfully evaded capture, Chris Ryan. 

Ryan walked for eight days — most of that time without food and three days without water — before making it to the Syrian border 190 miles north.

By the time he reached safety, he’d lost 36 pounds. He’d been poisoned by drinking creek water contaminated with nuclear weapons waste, hallucinating about his daughter…but he was alive. 

He wrote his account of the events in his book The One That Got Away. Two other SAS soldiers also published their own accounts in the instant bestseller Bravo Two Zero, and the often-controversial Soldier Five. 

This is a new style of article for Pew Pew Tactical; if you liked it — let us know in the comments! If you didn’t enjoy it…well phooey. To catch up on previous Pictures from History, click on over to our History Category.