Posted on 01/21/2013 12:41:22 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
Prince Harry's life on duty in Afghanistan
(CNN) -- Britain's Prince Harry has acknowledged that he killed Taliban insurgents on his latest tour of duty in Afghanistan as a crew member of an Apache attack helicopter.
Harry has been serving for four months as a co-pilot gunner (CPG) in southern Helmand province -- considered a Taliban heartland -- and flew on scores of missions with the trigger to rockets, missiles and a 30mm cannon at his fingertips.
No one is saying how many insurgents Harry might have killed but toward the end of his deployment, the 28-year-old, known to his comrades as Captain Wales, shared some of his feelings about combat with reporters while on duty in the massive military base known as Camp Bastion. He said it was sometimes justified to "take a life to save a life. That's what we revolve around, I suppose."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Can we find people like this guy from our side in politics anymore?
Just a thought.
“...how many insurgents Harry might have killed...”
Hopefully, it’s hundreds or thousands.
Enough with this incident already. He was photographed with a consenting adult woman. He's a normal young man. They need to stop flogging this. He's now out putting himself in harms way to defend his comrades and to pursue the mission there. That outweighs some silly picture of him naked.
I like that boy. His brother and himself got their “Man” genes from their Mommy.
“He said it was sometimes justified to “take a life to save a life.”
Never been in the military - but I suppose that is a reasonable answer to give the media. But that statement seems to make every life equal. I suppose in the Lord’s eyes they are - but when they are the enemy and trying to kill you, I don’t think their lives are “equal” to your life or the life of your buddy next to you.
I suppose for someone like Harry and in today’s world that is a good answer. Patton no doubt would have answered more like you - with some colorful words as well.
Not really.
I'm a friend of the Prince of Wales. I've known him since we went to the same school together, although our friendship is more recent than that. He has very little in common with the caricature of him that is presented in the press - partly because he is, overall (environmentalism is an exception), a conservative, and the press like to make conservatives look loopy.
But he served, as his sons are doing, in his country's military, and forty years ago, he was the dashing young military helicopter pilot both of them now are.
Britain was not at war while the Prince of Wales was an active Naval officer, so he was not called on to serve in a war situation. But he did his job as many other men and women have in peace time. His job was to fly the helicopters that took commandos from the decks of ships to the point of battle, and if he had been called on to do that in a combat situation he would have done so. He also commanded a minesweeper right at the end of his career, that is now known to have been engaged in intelligence operations.
He is a real man, in every sense of the word. I've stood metres from him as a man ran towards him firing a pistol (it turned out to be a starting pistol, thank God) and as I headed towards panic, he never even flinched. He's brave. He believes in serving his country above all else. He's a patriot. And his sons have got the same.
The Princess of Wales (who I did not really know) was, by all accounts, a wonderful mother, who gave her sons a great many positive things - compassion, love, a sense of social responsibility - but if she'd had her way, they never would have served in the military. That wasn't her vision and it wasn't the type of thing she was leading them towards.
Thank you for that time consuming post. My impression of Prince Charles was not favorable to say the least. Not that it matters-I am just some dude Jersey. But, to the extent you can extrapolate what I think, it is clear that a lot of us are in the wrong. You must lead quite the interesting life.
The image the public gets of him is very one sided. To judge by their portrayal of him, you'd think about the only things he ever does is talk about the environment.
Messages like this one, for example, get far less publicity:
To all of the Armed Forces on duty and serving away from home in far off lands, I wanted to send you a message to let you know that you are all very much in my thoughts and prayers at this time of year.
I also wanted to pay tribute to the extraordinary contribution made by those of you who belong to our Armed Forces, in all sorts of different parts of the world. Nowhere is your fortitude and relentless courage more clearly on display than in Afghanistan, where your resilience, patience and determination to see the job through – usually in impossibly difficult conditions and circumstances is, quite simply, humbling.
As a result of the regular reports I receive from my Regiments serving in Afghanistan (and even occasionally from family members!) I am well aware of the discomfort and privations you all endure with seemingly endless reserves of good humour. In addition to the intense heat and dust of the Summer and the freezing Winters, you face the constant, terrifying threat of I.E.D.s, attacks from rockets, grenades and small arms fire almost every day – and sometimes these attacks come from infiltrators hidden among those who are supposed to be working alongside you as allies. And yet you all seem to bounce back in an almost unbelievable way, despite the setbacks and vicious insurgent attacks.
Whether you are in Camp Bastion, Lashkar Gar or one of the many isolated and incredibly austere patrol bases, you all have a vital role to play in an enormous team effort. Teamwork, comradeship and collective endeavour for the greater good are the qualities that lie at the heart of everything you do.
With two sons currently serving in the Armed Forces, one of whom is with you all out there, I really do have at least some understanding of what your loved ones on the “home front” are going through. They are clearly missing you deeply, particularly at this time of year, and they are constantly thinking and worrying about you. I daresay in some ways it may be slightly easier for those serving away from home, with their mind on the job in hand, than those left behind, because of the constant worry. In this regard, perhaps there is some small consolation in occasional opportunities to speak on the welfare telephone, to Skype, to post on Facebook, to send E-blueys or, in the case of my younger son, to receive a very rare and precious letter in answer to mine! And don’t forget that a letter will one day be a very valuable historical document, treasured by families and by those who come after us.
Finally, I would just like to reinforce a point that I have been trying to make for many years now, that our country is incredibly lucky to have people like yourselves and that we owe you an everlasting debt of gratitude for all that you do and mean to us. I can only send you my heartfelt thanks and special blessings for this Christmas and for the New Year ahead.
As for my own life, it's quite normal, ninety nine percent of the time. But I have got to meet the Queen a few times, which I found quite an overwhelming experience, and the Duke of Edinburgh and I discussed stealing a warship and turning pirate once. And, amazingly, I got to take my wife to the recent Royal Wedding which earned me so many husband-points... but mostly, being a friend to a couple of members of the royal family is little different from being a friend to anyone else. They actually want some 'normality' in their lives, themselves. To sit down and have a beer and a chat. They have an important constitutional role in their country and the Commonwealth, but they are, personally, just very ordinary people - born to a special position and trained and educated to do it, but, of course, they are not special people. They're very ordinary.
The Prince is a good man because he's a good man. He's not perfect, because nobody is. But I do get quite upset when I see him being unfairly treated and criticised. He just seems to accept it.
Thank you so much for sharing that inspirational letter and the incredible reality of the royalty. You have provided insight where little exists. Thanks again!
Those must have been HUGE husband points.
As far as I am concerned there are no conservative enviro-whackos. Prince Charles included.
Thank you for the enlightening post.
You forgot the Islamophilia, though; a problem he seems to share with much of the British upper class.
I liked his book on architecture, but I thought he went totally around the bend with his environmentalism.
You know, I remember in the 1960s and 1970s when a large part of the early environmental movement were conservatives. Country people, hunters and similar who were the actual people who lived on the land and spent their time on the land, and understood nature. It got hijacked - especially in the United States by the left after that.
Prince Charles was part of it as part of that earlier movement, and he remains so. His father was President of the World Wildlife Fund for most of the 1980s and 1990s, before it too was at least partly hijacked.
No, I didn’t forget the Islamophilia - I just don’t think it is anywhere near as extreme as some people seem to think. The Prince of Wales treats Islam with respect - as the future Head of a Commonwealth that contains half a billion Moslems, I don’t think that’s inappropriate. If he didn’t treat it with respect - that’s enough to trigger major problems.
It’s also important to realise that the Prince takes the idea of separating terrorists who profess a religious belief from others who express that belief, very seriously. The man he was closest to, outside of his own family, his mentor through his adolescence and young adulthood was brutally murdered by terrorists who claimed Catholicism as a justification for their wicked acts. He separates the faith of decent people from the faith of evil people. He’s actually very hard line on dealing with terrorists of any stripe and any professed beliefs - as somebody who has spent his life as a target of extremists.
His environmentalism is something I don’t agree with, and I have told him so - but I do know that he has spent a lot more time studying these issues and is much better informed on them than I am. He’s not just pulling it out of nowhere. But it’s also an unfortunate fact that as a future King, it is constitutionally difficult for him to speak against the policy of Her Majesty’s Government on any issue as it could become his government at any time. During the Blair/Brown years, about the only major issue that he agreed with the government on was environmentalism - and so he wound up making a lot of speeches about that as a constitutionally safe topic. And even the current government is nowhere near as conservative as he is, on most issues, so he’s still stuck with environmentalism as one of the few safe issues.
Thanks again!
I don’t have a horse in the race since the boys are Brits but I think they are doing their country proud. Harry especially, I can tell he wants to be a normal young man but he’s got that royalty thing hanging over his head.......and he always will.
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