What is Andy Mcnab's real name?

Wiki Answers.com
"Andy McNab's real name is Steven Billy Mitchell. Despite some claims that it is a criminal offence to reveal an ex-SAS member's name, the source of this information is a British Government publication, 'The London Gazette'. This source is not only provided by the British Government themselves, but is freely available to anyone.
McNab has always used the initials 'DCM' as part of his title when authoring books. 'DCM' refers to the 'Distinguished Conduct Medal' McNab won during Operation Granby, Gulf War, 1991. Only 6 DCMs were awarded in this operation; the names of each recipient publically appearing in the London Gazette. Only one of the recipicients, Steven Billy Mitchell was a former Green Jacket as McNab was.
McNab also claimed to be the British Army's most highly decorated soldier when he retired in 1993, holding both the DCM (mentioned above) and the Military Medal. A cross check of the London Gazette shows that only one soldier held both these medals in 1993. This soldier was Steven Billy Mitchell. Details of Mitchell's MM also reveal that it was won in Northern Ireland in 1979, as McNab's was.
References
http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/issues/55340/supplements/13620
http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/issues/48061/supplements/312
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_Andy_mcnab_real_name#ixzz264cWEBy0
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http://www.greymansland.com/andy-mcnab-picture-gallery/
"Andy McNab photo gallery with hundreds of Andy McNab pictures, including the most revealing pictures of Andy McNab's face you'll find anywhere on the internet."
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List of British gallantry awards for Operation Granby (Wikipedia)
[Distinguished Conduct Medal]
Sergeant Steven Billy Mitchell, gazetted as Royal Green Jackets. Awarded 20 November 1991, gazetted in 1998.[10]
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"I sincerely hope that Steven B Mitchell (Andy McNab) and his fellow irrefutably proven liar of an ‘author’ Ryan might one day have half the guts that Vince had, visit the Grove, and publicly admit the shameful way they betrayed Vince and others in their books that have made them into multi-millionaires. Even rich people must have consciences." (From Allied Special Forces Forum - Vince Phillips)
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Steven Mitchell is identified in Special Forces (War Stories) by Brian Williams, 2011, page 17  ISBN 978 1 406 221 98 5

Compare and contrast....

Daily Mail
"Both operations were also smart, subtle and meticulously planned, using hi-tech ingenuity. Perhaps most of all, though, they were less obvious than those of their American counterparts.The missions took place during the SAS ‘D’ squadron’s six-month tour of Baghdad in the second half of 2008, a time when car bombers were wreaking carnage in the capital."

The Truth...

"They turned down taking vehicles..their biggest mistake.
The patrol had more detailed information than they had suggested...
Radio frequencies...the responsibilty was (Steve Mitchell) 'McNabs'..
Two rescue missions were launched..
The debriefings...no mention of at all of being involved in fire fights
with hordes of enemy or extremely heavy contacts with Iraqi
armoured vehicles and substantial contingents of infantry."
"When 'Ryan' was debriefed....no mention at all of encountering enemy troops on his trek.."
Comment:The author comes to the conclusion, very sadly, that a great many things were made up to provide the public with a hero(s), and by definition to sell the books.

The unofficlal historian of 'The Regiment'...

"The most damning evidence of all came from Peter Ratcliffe former RSM of 22 SAS during the Gulf War....neither (Steve Mitchell) McNab's or Ryan's written accounts of the Bravo Two Zero mission tallied with the official debriefings they had given in the UK after the war. He likened both books to 'cheap war fiction'.... (Asher,2002)
This author had left the UKSF at the time of the new contract,book published 2000

The cause of the new contract....

"According to (Steve Mitchell) 'McNab' , when the patrol was discovered, it was by Iraqi soldiers and a furious firefight ensued with the SAS men downing a dozen or more men before fleeing. According to Asher, the mission was "compromised" by three Arab locals, one of them a man in his 70s, and the SAS wisely decided that discretion was the better part of valour and withdrew." (This pretty much summarizes the reliabilty of the author Steve Mitchell to tell the truth). ..."There is an almost comical disparity between (Steve Mitchell) 'McNab' and 'Ryan's' version of the mission and the version Asher reports". Oh dear...
"According to (Steve Mitchell) 'McNab', the four captured patrol members (McNab, Pring, MacGown and the wounded Coburn) were moved numerous times, enduring torture and interrogation at each successive location. According to MacGown however, "incidents such as teeth extraction and burning with a heated spoon did not happen. It is inconceivable that any such incidents could have occurred without them being discussed or being physically obvious."
The author of this book left the UKSF just before its publication in 1993...

Patrol members

Bravo Two Zero patrol members. From left to right: Ryan, Consiglio, MacGown (obscured), Lane, Coburn (obscured), Mitchell (obscured), Phillips, Pring (obscured).

Sergeant Steven Billy Mitchell, DCM, MM, patrol commander

^[5] former Royal Green Jackets.^[6] Captured by the enemy, later released. Author of Bravo Two Zero (1993), and referred to as 'Andy McNab' in the books.

Sergeant Vincent (Vince) David Phillips,^[7] patrol 2IC

^[8] former Royal Army Ordnance Corps.^[9] Died of hypothermia during action, 25 January 1991.^[10]

Corporal 'Chris "Geordie" Ryan',^[11] (pseudonym of Colin Armstrong), MM

former 23(R) SAS. The only member of the patrol to escape capture. Author of The One That Got Away (1995).

Lance Corporal^[12] Ian Robert "Dinger" Pring

^[13][14] former Parachute Regiment. Captured by the enemy, later released.

Trooper Robert (Bob) Gaspare Consiglio, MM (posthumous)

^[4] former Royal Marine^[11][15] or Parachute Regiment.^[4] Killed in action, 27 January 1991.^[16]

Trooper Steven John "Legs" Lane, MM (posthumous)

^[4] former Lance Corporal of 9 Parachute Squadron, Royal Engineers^[17] and former Parachute Regiment.^[11] Died of hypothermia during action, 27 January 1991.^[18][19]

Trooper Malcolm (Mal) Graham MacGown, BDSc

^[20] former Australian 1st Commando Regiment.^[20] Captured by the enemy, later released. Referred to as 'Stan' in the books.

Trooper 'Mike "Kiwi"^[21] Coburn' (pseudonym)

^[22][23] former NZSAS.^[24] Captured by the enemy, later released. Author of Soldier Five (2004). Referred to as 'Mark the Kiwi' in the books.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bravo_Two_Zero

 .....summary

Let me see if I've got this straight. A bunch of elite troops are sent off on a mission. They're dropped in the wrong place, they're confused about what their aims are, their radios don't work, they abandon their equipment, blunder around aimlessly for a few days, they get lost, then separated, they leave one of their mates to die, and most of them are eventually captured by civilians. They achieve no worthwhile military objective whatever. It may well be the most unsuccessful military operation of all time. Afterwards the leader of this fiasco gets a DCM and becomes a celebrity, and people write lots of books about it. Did I miss something?"   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Bravo_Two_Zero

This one just got away before the new contract..

This Author, Colin Armstrong,using the pseudonym 'Chris Ryan', wrote his account of the Bravo Two Zero patrol, published in 1995. Coburn also commented on the book: "The portrayal of Vince Phillips was a despicable betrayal of what happened. Revelations became more and more outrageous, culminating in a book and film that saw him portrayed in an unfair and undignified manner."
"Michael Asher's investigative book, "The Real Bravo Two Zero" (2003), also criticised Ryan's (Colin Armstrong) portrayal of Phillips. Asher found that many of the negative attributes Ryan (Colin Armstrong) had described, did not correspond with the evidence, nor the other patrol member's accounts."
...Asher claimed that his main achievement, though, was in exonerating Sgt. Vince Phillips, who died on the mission, and who had been blamed for its failure. Phillips' family received an official letter of exoneration from the Ministry of Defence as a result of Asher's work."
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Colin Armstrong (aka Chris Ryan) is identified in Special Forces (War Stories) by Brian Williams, 2011, page 18  ISBN 978 1 406 221 98 5

Changing the pseudonym 'Chris Ryan' to his actual name

Verifiability

'Ryan' has always used the initials 'MM' as part of his title when authoring books. 'MM' refers to the 'Military Medal' 'Ryan' won during Operation Granby, Gulf War, 1991. Only 15 MMs were awarded in this operation^[28]; the names of each recipient publically appearing in the London Gazette. Only 8 of these were awarded to members of the Special Air Service, 5 of which were ex-Parachute Regiment (as 'Ryan' has stated was his parent regiment in The One That Got Away (1995)), and one of these (Robert Consiglio) was awarded posthumously leaving only four names; Melville, Armstrong, Dunbar and Yoursten. Of these four, Yoursten works for Olive Security Group using his real name^[29] and the service numbers of both Melville (24355763)^[30] and Dunbar (24388481)^[31] pre-date that of even Steven Mitchell (24428654)^[32], who served in the British army for two years before 'Ryan' enlisted.

  'By a structured process of elimination, using only British Government published sources and 'Ryan' himself, 'Chris Ryan' is most certainly Colin Armstrong -: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Bravo_Two_Zero - '

 

'Chris Ryan (real name Colin Armstrong) was a British Special Forces operative and soldier, until he wrote about his experiences during the First Gulf War and became an author. 'Chris Ryan' is actually a pseudonym and not his real name. His real name is Colin Armstrong. - http://chrisryan.wikia.com/wiki/Chris_Ryan

The one who tried to get away

This is a very good book from one of the 'Bravo Two Zero' patrol... caught out not by the enemy, but by the MoD and the contract of 1997.... The book compliments the available books by correcting some of the 'porkie pies' of the patrol leader's book of 1993, 'Bravo Two Zero' by Steve Mitchell 'Andy McNab' (a pseudonym) .... The author had to fight the weight of the MoD legal machine, not because the book was in any way breaking official secrets, but because if they had allowed this publication to go ahead without challenge then the contract used to bind UKSF after 1997 would be useless... So the MoD hounded the author, and eventually took away his rights to any royalties... this was a clear message to others serving in the UKSF.