Point Man

The point man leads the patrol into battle, looking for signs of danger. He is the first to face ambushes, hidden bombs and snipers. 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, he was lucky to make it home alive. But in his hometown in Essex, where prospects are bleak and his father still suffers from the nightmares of his own war experience, Kenny's struggle is far from over.

Auteur

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.