The author was a member of the patrol and tells of his 8 day escape on foot to the Syrian border. It's not about mollycoddling criminals, but changing things for them so that we all benefit when they come out.The One That Got Away is a 1995 book written under the pseudonym ' Chris Ryan' concerning the SAS patrol Bravo Two Zero, which was dropped behind enemy lines in Iraq in 1991. 'Confidence that they can walk into a library, bank or post office, confidence that they can fill in forms and ultimately, confidence to take control of their lives and not re-offend. 'It is all about giving these lads confidence,' he says. McNab, an ambassador for the Challenge, visited Portland Young Offender Institution in Dorset on Friday to distribute 500 copies of his Quick Reads title Today Everything Changes, about his own literacy journey. McNab is involved in this year's Six Book Challenge, an initiative organised by The Reading Agency to encourage unconfident readers to finish six books. He credits the Army with teaching him to read and changing his life, and he now works with literacy charities to help other adults to read. It was not until he arrived at a training base that he discovered he was functionally illiterate – his literacy levels were less than would be expected of an 11-year-old.

He was adopted, rebelled, and ended up in a juvenile detention centre, where he decided to join the Army. 'Andy McNab' was left in a carrier bag outside a London hospital as a baby. It also includes a Q&A, in which McNab shares the benefit of his experience of post-traumatic stress disorder (he is 'one of the fortunate guys' who hasn't suffered from it), the Army, and the most essential piece of kit (a spare water bottle to wee in, and a piece of gaffer tape wrapped around it 'to make sure I never got my water bottles mixed up'.)

The new version contains additional material, with an account of a return to Iraq, 10 years on, to find the memorial to the fallen members of the patrol, and an update on what has happened to everyone since.

We watched jealously as the first batch of blokes drew their desert kit and departed ….' So begins Andy McNab's Bravo Two Zero, which is republished this month to mark the 20th anniversary of the best-selling war story. As members of the Counter Terrorist team based in Hereford, my gang and I were unfortunately not involved. 'Within hours of Iraqi troops and armour rolling across the border with Kuwait at 02.00 local time on 2 August 1990, the Regiment was preparing itself for desert operations.

Bravo two zero story