Point Man

Description

Ambushes. Hidden bombs. Snipers. The point man is the first to encounter these signs of danger. He's the soldier who leads the patrol into battle. Few survive for long. Between 2007 and 2008, 20-year-old Kenny Meighan was the longest-serving point man in Helmand province. An exceptionally skilful and brave private who came from a family of soldiers, he was lucky to stay alive. This is the true story of how Kenny took on the toughest test a soldier could face and lived to tell the tale.

Mark Townsend is Home Affairs Editor of the Observer. He has won numerous awards including Press Gazette Specialist Reporter of the Year and British Environmental Journalist of the Year. His reports from Afghanistan, which Point Man is based on, were judged runner-up in the features category of the 2007 Foreign Press Association (FPA) awards. The following year he was part of the Observer team that won an FPA award for their investigation into Iraqi honour-killings. He lives in London.