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Arthur Kent, aka the "Scud Stud," the dashing foreign correspondent whose face graced TV stations across the nation during the Persian Gulf War, is alive and well in London, England. There he runs his own production company, Fast Forward Films, and hosts two shows for the History Channel. Though Kent got his nickname and was best known for his live coverage of scud missile attacks during the Gulf War, he earned his journalistic stripes well before that time, covering major world events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Tiananmen
Square protests. A native Canadian, Arthur Kent was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta, in 1953. His father was a newspaper editor, and Kent seemed destined for a career in the media. He graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa with a combined degree in Journalism and History and worked for several Canadian TV stations. In the late '80s, Kent moved on to become an independent foreign correspondent and cameraman who specialized in "solo reporting expeditions to zones of conflict." In August 1989, Kent joined NBC News as the Rome correspondent, a position that would prove fortuitous for his journalistic career and lead to two Emmys. The journalist had the fortune (or misfortune, depending
on your point of view) to be in the right place at the right time during the Gulf War in 1991. Camped out in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Kent's nightly broadcasts featured an eerie backdrop of missile and anti-missile fire. His live reports of the hostilities brought the action, complete with sound and light effects, into the family rooms of millions of Americans and gave a face to the war so far away. Kent continued to work for the network after the end of the Gulf War, earning a coveted spot on Dateline NBC. In 1992, Kent left NBC and sued the network for breach
of contract, a tale he recounts in his book Risk and Redemption: Surviving The Network News Wars. Since parting company with the network, Kent continued his journalistic career, contributing to the Canadian newsmagazine Maclean's and hosting several shows for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He also made several award-winning documentaries, including Afghanistan: Captives of the Warlords, which PBS aired in June 2001, and A Wedding in Basra, a look inside Iraqi culture under Saddam Hussein that aired on the History Channel in December 2001. If there is another
war with Iraq, don't expect the reappearance of the Scud Stud. He has hung up his desert boots, though you can still read his online reports of the ongoing events. Of his nickname, Kent says, "I've never regretted the moniker or the attention that came with it. It proved to be a great help at times."
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