While the insurgents were not thought to have ground-to-air weapons capability, as soon as a helicopter landed in the war zone, or flew below 1,000 feet, it was a sitting duck for machine-gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire. The only time these dangerous missions took place during daylight was when the medevac teams would land to collect badly injured troops.
There were countless occasions when the brave Chinook teams came under fire. Not long after Harry’s stint in Afghanistan one British pilot was even shot in the head as he took off with a cargo of wounded soldiers. The machine-gun rounds pierced the glass in the cockpit and the only thing that saved the mission from disaster was the fact the bullet hit the pilot’s metal bracket for his night vision goggles and ricocheted off.
On another occasion a rocket-propelled grenade hit a Sea King helicopter on the side. The missile went straight through and came out the other side while the troops inside looked on in horror. It was a miracle on that occasion that no one was killed.
These incidents revealed the sheer danger of landing in the daytime. But ultimately it had been decided that the mission to remove Harry was a risk that simply had to be taken. Once word reached the insurgents that the British prince was among the British fighting force, there was a real chance the Taliban campaign would be sent into overdrive.
Despite the urgency of removing Harry from the front line, military commanders were keen to reduce the risks to a minimum. When the Chinook took off from Camp Bastion it was joined by an Apache attack helicopter. If there was one thing that sent shivers down the spines of the Taliban fighters on the ground, it was the awesome sight of these £46 million flying fortresses. The mere sound of them overhead was usually enough to send any insurgents into hiding.
The Apache helicopter is equipped with state-of-the-art weapons technology that allows the pilot and his number two to scour the ground for any potential threats. When the Chinooks go in to land, the Apache hovers overhead, waiting for any possible attack. And if that happens the Apache is armed with a cannon as well as the deadly, laser-guided hellfire missiles.
On the day Harry was removed from the front line the Apache team kept a constant menacing presence up above, with the co-pilot keeping his thumb over the trigger. Harry and his close protection officer were then waved towards the rear of the Chinook. Its large ramp was lowered and the passengers were told to run as fast as they could to get on board. Less than two minutes after it had landed, the Chinook took off and headed straight back to the relative safety of Camp Bastion, deep in the Helmand Province desert. The most dangerous part of the mission had been executed like clockwork, much to the relief of everyone involved.
Back home Clarence House press office and their counterparts at the Ministry of Defence were dealing with hundreds of calls from journalists the world over. News that Harry had been serving his country in Afghanistan was now breaking on TV and radio stations, websites and newsrooms across the planet.
One of the priorities for the team of press officers was to ensure the message that Harry was no longer on the front line got across loud and clear. The fear now was that British troops serving in the war zone might come under attack simply because of Harry’s presence. So the quicker the palace and the Ministry of Defence could make it known Harry was already on his way home the better. True to their word, it was not long before the MoD gave the go-ahead for the media to start running the photographs and interviews that had been put together in return for the media blackout.
At the time Camp Bastion was a makeshift city and home for the British and American troops. Every day its vast runway saw as many flights as Manchester Airport. The sprawling desert base was considered a safe haven for servicemen and women. A place where they could buy fresh pizza, use the gym and catch up on some rest and recuperation, Bastion was nothing like the hostile conditions Harry had been experiencing out on the front line.
When Harry landed he went and had a shower and a change of clothes. Later he went with his protection officers to one of the base’s many dining rooms for a hot meal, which must have seemed like the best thing he had eaten for weeks. But despite the relative luxury and safety of Bastion, nothing could lessen Harry’s disappointment at what had happened. Any officer who is forced to leave behind the men he commands on the battlefield is never going to do so happily.
One former major who served in Afghanistan on two separate tours said: ‘One minute Harry was on the front line with his men. The next he was having to wish them luck and say goodbye. The bond you form in that environment is unlike any other. You rely on the people around you to keep you alive. You get very close, and as an officer the feeling of being responsible for your own troops is even stronger.
‘On a six-month tour everyone is given two week’s R-and-R [rest and recuperation]. You are flown home to see your family and friends and to try and recharge the batteries. But in reality the two weeks are very tough. While it’s amazing to see your loved ones the reality is you constantly think about the guys you’ve left behind. You hope and pray nothing happens to them while you are away and even feel guilty about watching TV or having a pint with your mates back home.
‘It is very difficult for anyone who hasn’t experienced this to understand the range of emotions you go through. When Harry was effectively ripped away from his men just two months into his tour it would have come as a hammer-blow. Even though everyone would know he had no say in the matter, Harry would have left Afghanistan feeling guilt, anger and desperation.
‘In his case these feelings would have been magnified by the blaze of publicity surrounding his deployment. The last thing he would have wanted was to be hailed a hero when he arrived home. He would have felt very low and found it impossible to stop obsessing about the men he left behind.’
Meanwhile the media operation had gone into meltdown as journalists demanded to know when Harry would arrive home and what facilities would be laid on. News of Harry’s war was on the front pages of all the daily papers before he had even left Afghanistan for the long journey home. But the Sunday papers were desperate to get their bite of the cherry with pictures and an interview as Harry’s flight arrived back at Brize Norton air base.
It was customary for soldiers returning from a tour in Afghanistan not to fly straight back to the UK but to stop in Cyprus for a period of what was called ‘decompression’. On the small Mediterranean island troops would chill out at the British base, drink a beer and be offered the opportunity to raise concerns or issues they might have. In Harry’s case the Cyprus stopover gave the palace the perfect opportunity to draw breath. The collapse of the media blackout had happened even faster than they could have predicted. With Harry safely out of harm’s way in Cyprus they were able to brief the world’s press on how his arrival home was going to work.
While in Cyprus, Harry made it clear he didn’t want to do anything public, but he was persuaded that the deal for a media blackout had come at a cost. He was told there was no choice but for him to be filmed and photographed as soon as he arrived back, and was even talked into doing a pooled interview before he left the base.
Harry later described how difficult it was to honour the agreement with the British media. He knew they had played ball and without their consent the eight weeks in Afghanistan could not have happened. But at the same time he was furious and disappointed the agreement had been destroyed by elements within the foreign media.
It was a mark of Harry’s character that he agreed to play ball himself. The last thing he wanted to do was appear before the cameras on the day he arrived home. He was still seething with anger, but despite that he showed a willingness to dig deep.
Members of the Royal family are not used to being told they can’t have their way, and that is hardly a surprise. Imagine what it must be like growing up without ever having to queue, with everyone you meet knowing your name and fawning over you. Somebody once joked that the Queen is so used to walking into rooms that have been hastily spruced up before she arrived that Her Maj
esty must just think the outside world smells of fresh paint.
When Harry was a boy he and William would be taken to pop concerts by their mother in a bid to make them feel normal. But unlike ordinary people they would be ushered everywhere as VIPs and afterwards they could expect to chat to the band members, who would bow and scrape out of respect.
You only have to look at young soccer megastars to see the corrupting effect fame and wealth can have. It is a credit to Harry that despite this utterly unique upbringing, he is far less precious or demanding than certain members of his family. And compared to many footballers his age, he is a positive saint.
In the twenty-four or so hours in Cyprus Harry felt low. All he could think about were the guys he had left behind. He knew that for the next four months he would have to helplessly sit behind a desk in his barracks, dreading bad news from the front line. When you are out in a war zone your adrenalin, training and comrades keep you sane. At home, when his men were still fighting without him, Harry would only be able to sit and worry.
In the late winter of 2008 the British commitment to the war in Afghanistan was increasing, with more than 7,000 British servicemen and women in Afghanistan. Every month more and more troops spilled into Helmand Province as the commitments in Iraq began to decrease. By the time Harry was waiting for his RAF flight home from Cyprus to Brize Norton, he was surrounded by other servicemen and women returning home.
The troop carrier planes used at that time were a disgrace to the British military. The fleet of Tristar jets were once used by British Airways as passenger jets, but in 1976 they were retired and ended up in the hands of the Royal Air Force. Happily, since 2008 these decrepit old machines have been replaced. But back then the majority of our boys and girls returning from the rigours of Afghanistan had to put up with the sort of flights that made Ryanair look like Concorde. But it was because of this outdated mode of transport that Harry’s journey home was about to mark a major turning point in his life.
The young Royal was dreading the media scrum he knew was waiting for him in the UK. But after he had taken his seat, ready for the five-hour flight home, something very significant happened.
Normally when Royals get on passenger flights they are the last on board and the first to leave. An army of British Airways staff and airport officials queue up with their yellow bibs and walkie talkies to whisk their VIP passengers off the flight before the riff-raff behind are even allowed to unfasten their seatbelts. But this was not the case that day. Harry was already in his seat when the final two passengers were brought on board. For once in his life, Harry was not the most important person on board. That day two other passengers took priority.
Like Harry, just a few hours earlier they had been serving their country on the front line. Their tour of Afghanistan, like his, had come to an abrupt end because of circumstances well beyond their control. But unlike Harry, on their return to the UK they would not be met with a fanfare of publicity and the inevitable cap-doffing hero’s welcome that awaited the young prince.
These two men would be taken off the flight first, placed onto a military ambulance away from the cameras and driven straight to a British military hospital wing. These two men from the elite 40 Commando Royal Marines unit had both been critically injured when a Taliban bomb exploded next to them.
The worst injured, a young, athletic and popular Royal Marine named Ben McBean, had lost a leg and an arm after he trod on an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) while on a patrol the previous day. Up until that moment Ben had been a proud Bootneck (Slang for Royal Marine), known to his mates for his big broad smile and kind nature. He was now gravely injured and there were serious doubts about whether the medics back in the UK would be able to save him.
There is no doubt that the sight of these two injured servicemen being loaded onto Harry’s flight home in Cyprus was to have a profound effect on the young Royal. Although he had spent ten weeks in a war zone, this was the first time he came face to face with the true cost of war.
For those that are worst injured the planes were equipped with hospital beds and a team of highly trained medics who monitor their patients continuously. Throughout the flight the two casualties were unconscious, but their mere presence on board meant the atmosphere was sombre. For Harry this was without doubt a life-changing experience. He was already being hailed a hero back home, but for what – doing the job he was trained for?
Just because he was a Royal, because of an accident of birth, his image was splashed over every front page. As soon as the plane’s wheels touched the tarmac at Brize Norton the TV cameras would be rolling, not because of the two men fighting for their lives, the latest victims of the war in Afghanistan, but because the third in line to the British throne was coming home.
Harry was well used to his life in the goldfish bowl of publicity, but this time the thought of facing the cameras made him feel sick to the stomach. He knew there was a very real possibility that some of the guys he had been forced to leave on the front line might be flown home in the same hospital beds.
As Harry’s plane made its way towards the safety of home, the men he had been commanding were still in harm’s way, with another three and a half months of their six-month tour to come. But he was now helpless to play any role in keeping them safe.
Waiting at the Oxfordshire RAF base were his father Prince Charles and brother William. They were to be photographed and interviewed as part of the media deal. Prince Charles, who had reluctantly agreed to be interviewed, spoke about the mixed emotions endured by the parents and loved ones of all soldiers returning home from war. But there was no sign of the families of the two wounded men, whose return home would inevitably mark the start, rather than the end of their battles.
That journey, and the sight of two unconscious and critically injured Royal Marines, is an experience Harry will never be able to forget.
Royals traditionally lead the country in paying tribute to the servicemen and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Every year and on every foreign visit, members of the Royal family spend hours with their heads bowed next to war memorials. But by returning from Afghanistan on that flight, on that day in March 2008, Prince Harry became the first member of his family in recent history to witness first-hand the impact war can have on young lives.
No other Royal has made a journey like the one Harry made that day. And it explains why, all these years later, his commitment to those men and women who have been wounded in the line of duty is both sincere and affirming for him.
His work with children and the victims of AIDS and HIV is inspired by the values that his mother taught him as a child. But when it comes to Harry’s work with the military and his commitment to the victims of conflict, the motivation comes from very real-life experiences, first-hand exposure to the costs of war.
When he finally stepped off the plane at Brize Norton, the images he had witnessed were buzzing around his head. The feelings of anger, frustration and helplessness were etched on his face. Ten weeks in the front line, and a journey home that he would never forget, marked a turning point in Harry’s life. It was no surprise therefore that when he faced the cameras and took part in the short interview as agreed that day, his words would reflect the deep impact the Afghan experience was already starting to have.
When he spoke that day Harry’s words came straight from the heart. Asked if he would describe himself as a hero, he stared straight at the reporter and said: ‘I wouldn’t say I’m a hero at all. I’m no more of a hero than anyone else. If you think about it there’s thousands and thousands of troops out there.’
He then reflected on what he had witnessed on the flight home, the sight of the two critically wounded soldiers, and added: ‘I was a bit shocked. It is a bit of a choke in your throat when you know that it’s happening. There’s a lot of time when you are actually in theatre [in the war zone] it isn’t even mentioned that much. One of the soldiers lost a left arm and right leg while the other took a shrap
nel hit in the neck. Both were unconscious throughout the flight from Afghanistan. Those are the heroes. Those were guys who had been blown up by a mine that they had no idea about, serving their country, doing a normal patrol.’
This was a Royal talking about the first-hand experience of fighting in the front line. And when asked about his own role in the war effort, Harry’s response was equally matter-of-fact. Responding to a question about his job as a battlefield air controller calling in air strikes, patrolling in Helmand Province and firing on militants, he said: ‘You do what you have to do, what’s necessary to save your own guys. If you need to drop a bomb, worst case scenario, then you will, but then that’s just the way it is. It’s not nice to drop bombs, but to save lives that’s what happens.’
Harry’s admission that he had called in air strikes and his hint that he had no problem with killing insurgents meant that his security had to be stepped up after he arrived home. The warrior prince was now a prime target for terrorists, and even to this day the fact that he fought in Afghanistan means heightened security measures. But Harry is not in the least bit bothered by this aspect of his war legacy. Far more important is the fact that Afghanistan has given him an insight into the Armed Forces which it might be argued makes him unique within the Royal family.
There was little surprise therefore that less than two months after stepping off the flight at Brize Norton, Harry and William were making the journey to the military’s rehabilitation hospital, Headley Court in Surrey.
Ben McBean had undergone surgery in the days that followed his return. By the middle of April 2008, he was well enough to be transferred from Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham to the more comfortable surroundings of Headley Court.
On the day of his visit Harry and his brother William were taken upstairs to meet Ben, and the young Marine finally came face to face with the person he shared a flight home from war with. Although he had no memory of the flight, Ben had been made aware of how a twist of fate had brought him to the attention of the third in line to the throne. Harry admitted he was ‘very moved’ to have met Ben and was encouraged to hear that despite his devastating injuries he was determined to one day run a marathon.
Prince Harry Page 10