X Platoon

Steve Heaney joined the Parachute Regiment Juniors at sixteen, then passed Parachute Regiment selection and joined 3 PARA in 1987. Three years later he successfully undertook selection into X Platoon - more formally known as the Pathfinders. He went on to serve with that unit for over a decade, working with almost every Special Forces unit with which the British military has links. In 1999 he was promoted to Platoon Sergeant. The following year, he was the first non-officer in the unit's history to be awarded the Military Cross for his leadership and courage during Operation Mayhem.

Sergeant Heaney left the British military in 2001. Since then he has worked in the Middle East as a senior military advisor to one of Britain's key allies.

Damien Lewis worked as a war- and conflict-reporter for major broadcasters across Africa, South America, the Middle and Far East, and has won numerous awards for his journalism. In 2001 he wrote his first book, an international number-one bestseller translated into over thirty languages and made into a film and stage play. His Special Forces books OPERATION CERTAIN DEATH, ZERO SIX BRAVO and CHURCHILL'S SECRET WARRIORS were SUNDAY TIMES bestsellers, as were his co-authored military books, FIRE STRIKE 7/9 and IT'S ALL ABOUT TREO. Several of his elite forces books are in the process of being made into movies or TV dramas.