Instead, he selected and trained potential recruits, before being honourably discharged from the SAS in 1994. Besides suffering severe muscle atrophy, he lost 36 lb (16 kg) and did not return to operational duties. ĭuring his escape, Ryan suffered injuries from drinking water contaminated with nuclear waste. : 233 This march made SAS history as the 'longest escape and evasion by an SAS trooper or any other soldier', covering 100 miles (160 km) more than SAS trooper Jack Sillito had in the Sahara Desert in 1942. Ryan walked 300 kilometres (190 mi), from an observation point on the Iraqi MSR between Baghdad and North-Western Iraq, to the Syrian Border. However they were compromised and forced to head towards Syria on foot. find a good LUP (lying up position) and set up an OP' on the main supply route (MSR) between Baghdad and North-Western Iraq, and eventually take out the Scud TELs. The patrol was sent into Iraq to 'gather intelligence.

: 100–102 Bravo Two Zero ĭuring the Gulf War, Ryan was a team member of the ill-fated eight-man SAS patrol, with the call sign Bravo Two Zero.

Needing a parent regiment, Ryan and a soldier who had joined 22 SAS from the Royal Navy, spent eight weeks with the Parachute Regiment before returning to 'B' Squadron. Shortly after that he began selection for the regular 22 SAS Regiment and joined 'B' Squadron as a medic. When he was old enough, he passed selection into 23 SAS. : 85 Ryan did this nearly every weekend, almost passing selection several times, but he was too young to continue and do 'test week'. Ryan's cousin was a member of the reservist 23 SAS Regiment and invited Ryan to come up and 'see what it's like to be in the army'. After attending Hookergate School, he enrolled in the British Army at the age of 16. Ryan was born in Rowlands Gill in County Durham. He has also presented or appeared in numerous television documentaries connected to the military or law enforcement.Įarly life, education and military service Since retiring from the British Army Ryan has published several fiction and non-fiction books, including Strike Back, which was subsequently adapted into a television series for Sky 1, and co-created the ITV action series Ultimate Force. Īfter the publication of fellow patrol member Andy McNab's Bravo Two Zero in 1993, Ryan published his own account of his experiences during the Bravo Two Zero mission in 1995, entitled The One That Got Away. Colin Armstrong MM (born 1961), usually known by the pen-name Chris Ryan, is a British author, television presenter, security consultant and former Special Air Service sergeant.

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