Prince Harry: Send me to war or I quit

The Mail on Sunday ^ | April 23, 2006 | CHRISTOPHER LEAKE

[Tax-chick]

their main problem is not whether Harry can take the pressure of coming under fire in action – but whether the lives of the men fighting alongside him will be more at risk because he is regarded as a ‘trophy target’ by insurgents.

A reasonable concern, I must say.

Nonetheless, I hope something is worked out so that the Lieutenant can see action with his comrades. Good for him!

[TomGuy]

Prince Harry does seem to have more 'character' and gumption than most of the Royals.

[TomGuy]

can one just 'quit' the military if not given the opportunity one desires?

If one is 3rd in line to the throne, one can probably do just about anything one desires. lol

[DoughtyOne]

Same here. I do have some mixed thoughts on him being assigned to the front lines though. Does it expose his fellow troops to an elevated risk based on his status? I think that's a valid question.

[ThreePuttinDude]

"Prince Charles himself, being the Muslim-loving wannabe-tampon that he is....."

LMAO.......Good one

[Hong Kong Expat]

I'm betting he's not the first Jr. officer who threatened to quit if he wasn't sent into action. Nobody at that age wants a desk job.

[GSlob]

A Solomonous decision would be to post him to an artillery unit: no desk job, some shooting, and no close contact with the natives.

[dinasour]

Now I know he's not Charles kid.

[capitalist229]

If one is 3rd in line to the throne, one can probably do just about anything one desires. lol

Not for the heir and the spare.

Not in England.

BUMP

[naturalman1975]

To an extent he can. He's an officer, and as such holds the Queen's Commission. He can tender his resignation of such a Commission quite easily.

His resignation does not have to be accepted (and Her Majesty's consent is required for such termination) but it is generally held that an Commissioned officer should be permitted to resign their Commission unless special circumstances apply.

[Hardastarboard]

I'm not qualified to judge here; I never served. Having said that, I do believe that if I were in his unit, and really believed he was sincere, I wouldn't care about the extra risk. Just knowing that this guy wanted to be there would motivate me to take extra care not to let anything happen to him. That and not wanting history to show that I was on the squad that let Harry get captured or killed.

[snugs]

Being third in line for the throne just about guarantees that you cannot do anything much you want to.

[naturalman1975]

Of course, I should add to this that when I threatened to resign my Commission in a fit of pique at the age of about 22, I was informed by my immediate superior that if I tried it, he'd kick me so hard, my arse would be above my eyebrows. Once he had my attention, I was treated to a very impressive instantaneous lecture of the responsibilities of a Commission and not treating it as if it was just another job. I was in full agreement after five minutes, though the lecture went on for at least fifty.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Three years ago during the battle for Basra, Trooper Chris Finney of the Blues and Royals, who was just 19, won a rare George Cross for gallantry for saving his comrades after their Scimitar came under attack, by mistake, from American bombers.

. . . which gets me to my pet peeve. People are outraged when there is a "friendly fire" incident - but the fog of war asssures that such incidents will occur. Indeed, when you are inflicting a hundred times the casualties on the enemy as he is on you, you want your bombers to be aggressive enough that they will end up killing about as many of your own troops as the enemy will.

But high-profile casualties such as Pat Tillman or, Heaven forefend, Lt. Wales are treated as scandalous.

[snugs]

In an interview with Prince Andrew for the Queen's 80th birthday he was adamant if either Harry's or William's unit was sent to Iraq or Afghanistan then they would go with them.

As far as Andrew was concerned it was not up for discussion, Buckingham Palace and the Queen would not stop nor want to. As far as he was concerned they never tried to stop him it was all media talk. He considered it done and dusted if your unit goes you go.

[Recon Dad]

I suspect that they will send him but also send an SAS team to baby sit and be his official taster, so to speak.

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

A return to a time when Royals were not above the fray. Good to see your still poking around here.

[Non-Sequitur]

I doubt that there is any false bravado in this. Just a desire to accept the same dangers as his peers, and not want to be protected just because of who his father is.

[Rebelbase]

"Prince Charles himself, being the Muslim-loving wannabe-tampon that he is,"

Superb!

[Calpernia]

Prince Harry has threatened to quit the Army if commanders refuse to send him to the front line.

The mobility of the Blues and Royals’ light Scimitar reconnaissance vehicles will be a great value in Afghanistan and senior commanders say the Cavalry unit could be sent to Helmand province to support Paras in what is regarded as one of the most dangerous parts of the world.

Harry would command a troop of 11 men who would drive into the front line in their Scimitars.