He has also led the field in contemporary accounts of the experiences of British troops fighting in southern Afghanistan. His 3 Para told the story of the initial break-in battle in Helmand in 2006 and won the British Army Military Book of the Year Award. He joined the Paras on their return to southern Afghanistan in 2008 and produced a sequel, Ground Truth.
His writing is underpinned by first-hand knowledge of warfare gained during a long career as a foreign correspondent. He has followed British soldiers on almost all their deployments of the last thirty years from the Falklands to Afghanistan.
He is also the author of two novels, A Good War and Follow Me Home, which has been described as ?the first great novel of the Afghan war.’(Major Chris Hunter).