Prince Harry to serve in Iraq

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

what a coup prince Harry would be for a suicide bomber

Yeah, but if they were half bright they could do that at a London nightclub

 

[cardboard]

I know - I was in the middle of some work whilst replying. Saw your edit after I'd posted mine. Still a valid question though, why you don't seem to think they're British enough for you.

Im not fussed about the Britishness bit at all.

I don't believe anyone should be treated as better than anyone else etc. When in my opinion have done nothing to warrant it.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I completely accept that Iraq is currently an extremely dangerous place, and no, I wouldn't want the job myself.

My point is that we'll surely now have to endure months of toadying Harry-Front-Line-Updates from the likes of the Mail, telling us how brave the poor lad's being, how he's quite probably winning the war single handedly in fact. When there'll be a distinct effort on the part of the people behind the scenes to ensure his chances of getting shot are considerably less than your average soldier out there.

I appreciate he could probably have skived out of the whole thing, although not without getting a stack of Prince-Edward-style mockery, but there's thousands of soldiers been out there, in terrible conditions, for months, years even now, without anyone doing a four page tribute special on them, or ensuring their backsides are kept out of the line of fire.

Don't tell me the old boys network at the top of the British Army didn't pull a few strings to find Harry's regiment a slightly cushier placing (relatively speaking).

 

[Icy Gull]

I

Don't tell me the old boys network at the top of the British Army didn't pull a few strings to find Harry's regiment a slightly cushier placing (relatively speaking).

It's all a bit hazy now but I seem to recall Andrew being a helicopter pilot involved in airlifting from stricken ships in the Falklands with Argentine fighters never too far away. Do you consider he had some strings pulled for him or was it all tabloid bollocks and he was nver at any risk at all?

I doubt that Harry will be allowed to be anything but high profile given who he is and where he is personally.

 

[Commander]

My point is that we'll surely now have to endure months of toadying Harry-Front-Line-Updates from the likes of the Mail, telling us how brave the poor lad's being, how he's quite probably winning the war single handedly in fact.

In which case I have a solution for you. Don't read it.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

It's all a bit hazy now but I seem to recall Andrew being a helicopter pilot involved in airlifting from stricken ships in the Falklands with Argentine fighters never too far away. Do you consider he had some strings pulled for him or was it all tabloid bollocks and he was nver at any risk at all?

I was just about to post more or less the same thing. I mean, did they give Andrew a special helicopter made out of black box material and order him to do circuits of Brazil or something? Don't think so. Not a big fan of the Royals, but credit where it's due.

 

[Nibble]

Perhaps Harry will be performing special morale raising duties like dressing up in Nazi uniforms? Or perhaps he would be better off on a naval cruiser getting f***ed up the arse by a bunch of sailors?

 

[Uncle Buck]

bit of a dumb move I reckon. If he is anywhere near the front line surely its just going to put all his colleagues at more risk. what a coup prince Harry would be for a suicide bomber
pointless

I have to agree with that. I understand him not wanting special treatment, but having him there gives the militants a very high profile British target.

He should not have been commisioned into a regiment that was due to go to Iraq.

 

[Buzzer]

Im not fussed about the Britishness bit at all.

I don't believe anyone should be treated as better than anyone else etc. When in my opinion have done nothing to warrant it.

Royals, eh? Damned if they do and damned if they don't.

You could also consider that they've changed and evolved since Rosa Luxembourg's times. You might want to change your rhetoric too.

 

[Uncle Buck]

It's all a bit hazy now but I seem to recall Andrew being a helicopter pilot involved in airlifting from stricken ships in the Falklands with Argentine fighters never too far away. Do you consider he had some strings pulled for him or was it all tabloid bollocks and he was nver at any risk at all?

I doubt that Harry will be allowed to be anything but high profile given who he is and where he is personally.

The story goes that by the time they realised Andrew was part of the task force he was half way there, so too late to pull him out.

Then alledgedly the person responsible for monitoring the ongoing situations in the South Atlantic though the Falklands were a coffee stain on his map.

 

[Stinky Kat]

Shame Blair is not going instead of Harry. Dont see Blairs kids clammering to get through the Army careers door do we

 

[Buzzer]

The story goes that by the time they realised Andrew was part of the task force he was half way there, so too late to pull him out.

Then alledgedly the person responsible for monitoring the ongoing situations in the South Atlantic though the Falklands were a coffee stain on his map.

How do you send a task force halfway to the Falklands before you realise that the 2nd in line to the throne is onboard. Considering the newspapers back then were unstintingly Royal, it might just have got a mention in one or two papers.

 

[Uncle Buck]

How do you send a task force halfway to the Falklands before you realise that the 2nd in line to the throne is onboard. Considering the newspapers back then were unstintingly Royal, it might just have got a mention in one or two papers.

The closer truth I am guessing was that it was known that his section was part of the task force, but the dilema was if they pulled him out it is seen as special treatment, however if he got shot out of the sky you either lose the then third in line (I think William had been born by then) to the throne or the enemy pick him up and have a nice bit of propaganda.

 

[Ozymandias]

The story goes that by the time they realised Andrew was part of the task force he was half way there, so too late to pull him out.

Well the story was wrong. At the time there were a number of newspaper articles about whether he would go or not. The Navy's point of view was that he's a pilot, we need pilots, he's going south, end of.
I met him a couple of times and I thought he was a bit of a nob, nothing to do with him being Royalty, more the fact that he was a pig (Officer), where being a nob is a prerequisite.

As for the Ginger bloke, good luck to him. If it's anything like Andrew and the Falklands he'll do what any other officer in the Blues and Royals will do in Iraq, nothing more ,nothing less.

The down side as already been pointed will be the number of shit articles in the papers especially the mail and the express.

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

Right...

Andrew went down South because he was a helicopter pilot and was attached to a ship. There was never any question of taking him off. The guy might be a grade 1 cock, but he did what was asked of him, and did it exceptionally well. Easy to criticise when your main concern is whether the kettle is full or not.....

Harry is not "going somewhere soft" - he is going to Basra where the rest of the guys are. He will be a target, which is a bit of a bitch for the rest of the guys. He will not have "special armour", "superguns" or "kryptonite underpants". He be able to afford a better class of boots, but that is it. He will not be living in a hotel and being flown in for jobs. He is a troop commander, he lives with the 12 men he commands, it really is that simple. If he wanted "easy" he would have picked up a Germany job, or a support job in Cyprus.

Love the uninformed comments from those who believe that CNN is "war reporting"....

 

[Ozymandias]

Right...

Andrew went down South because he was a helicopter pilot and was attached to a ship. There was never any question of taking him off. The guy might be a grade 1 cock, but he did what was asked of him, and did it exceptionally well. Easy to criticise when your main concern is whether the kettle is full or not.....

or whether you want caf or decaf .....

Apparently after the first couple of ships got hit, they decided to protect the capital ships from Exocets by getting a couple of Seakings(?) to hover in front of the ship. The idea being that Exocet would take out the Cab (helicopter), rather than the very large ship hiding behind it.

Andrew took his turn like any other pilot.

 

[gts big bruv]

At least he has the Boll**cks to put his hand up and say he wants to go with his men .
the Anti royalist can can slag him off. As for him being kept out of the way we will see Prince Andrew did it during the Falklands ! and to my knowledge he had no special treatment
Good on you Harry He signed up for it.

 

[gts big bruv]

The closer truth I am guessing was that it was known that his section was part of the task force, but the dilema was if they pulled him out it is seen as special treatment, however if he got shot out of the sky you either lose the then third in line (I think William had been born by then) to the throne or the enemy pick him up and have a nice bit of propaganda.

Dont talk Crap ther is loads of ways he could have been bought back without his ship and without arrousing suspicion .I am sure as he was in Portsmouth and they announced the Task force was going somebody would have known he was on board !

 

[Mtoto]

Even if he does end up with a cushy number miles from the sharp end, there's still the American air force to worry about...

 

[Emily's Mum]

The question of whether Harry should or should not go to Iraq wouldhave come up as soon as Harry passed his selction board to go to Sandhurst. As soon as he chose what type of role he wanted, Iraq would always have come up. He may well have avoided it if he had chosen to be an admin officer, but you can imagine that Harry wanted to do a job t the 'Sharp End'.

Harryhas gone public with the fact that he would have resigned his comission if he was not allowed to on a deployment. I think that shows how serious he is about being a soldier. The fact that he is going now, shortly after he has completed his training is irrelevent. Everyone serving in Iraq does a six month tour, normally switching round in May & November. The Army hasn't got that many regiments to send, it was just pot luck that he is going this year. Good on him.