Flying helicopters had been his way of getting back to the front line, but the stint in Bastion was nowhere near the kind of Army life he had craved. The truth was that in the busy surrounds of his base, he remained Prince Harry first, and Captain Wales second. Perhaps this is one of the underlying factors that contributed to his eventual decision to quit the career he had chosen. A reluctant facing of the facts – he would never again experience the buzz of being treated as a normal soldier.
Although Harry’s second tour was not hidden from the public through a media blackout like before, there was still an agreement with the British media. They were asked to avoid offering a running commentary on his three-month deployment to allow him to just get on with the job. This was, in general, respected by the media, and in return Harry agreed to doing a series of set-piece interviews for TV and press reporters. These were to be kept under embargo until the Royal had finished his tour and returned to the UK.
True to his word, Harry agreed to talk in front of the cameras on three separate occasions during his deployment, with chosen crews being flown out by the RAF on the understanding they would have to share their material as and when the embargo was lifted. Once again this was not an ideal arrangement but it did seem to work. In fact, when the interviews were finally aired they amounted to some of the most revealing the prince had ever given. Perhaps it was the familiar surroundings that put Harry at ease, but his comments were full and frank and it seemed that for once nothing was ‘off limits’.
When on duty Harry and his crew would be in a state called Very High Readiness (VHR), meaning that if a call came in they could be in the air within seven minutes. Confined to the unit, this meant Harry would have hours to kill, almost like a fireman waiting to be called on a ‘shout’. To ease the boredom, he revealed a routine which would have tested the patience of any battle-ready soldier. ‘Essentially we just sit inside the tent and play computer games, watch movies and play uckers [a board game] while we wait for the phone to go. I’m one of those people who, during my flying course especially, I was fine at flying. I should have probably done a lot more reading, and then every now and then a written test would come up and I’d be absolutely useless. I’ve been like that since stage one of my youth, exams were always a nightmare, but anything like kicking a ball around or playing a PlayStation, or flying, I just find it a little bit easier than walking sometimes.’
He explained what sort of missions he had flown when the phone calls came through and added: ‘It could be anything from a CASEVAC through to troops in contact, or cover protection for troops on the ground that are vulnerable. Every time you run to the aircraft you get that adrenalin rush, and when you get to the aircraft you’ve got to try and slow yourself down because if the adrenalin is pumping too much and you rush, you’re going to miss something. There’s a lot of pressures obviously when we go and support the Americans or when there is a wounded soldier on the ground.
‘It’s better than being on the ground in a tank as far as I can tell, but when you fire you still get the cordite smell, which is bizarre. The whole floor vibrates and when you fire a missile the whole aircraft shudders.
‘Obviously a lot of people would decide this aircraft is a strike platform, which it was in the beginning but now it has that capability but it’s being used much more widely, mainly as a deterrent because the guys [insurgent fighters] recognize the sound and the shape of the aircraft – it’s a case of “Right, they’re above so we’re not going to do anything”.
‘We’re flying less, but when we’re out there, once we’re on the other side of the fence, essentially we are doing as much as we can to make sure that the guys on the ground aren’t being shot at, and if they are being shot at we go to where they’re being shot at and we do what we have to do.’
Sitting there in front of the cameras, Harry had alluded to something that would set him apart from generations of members of his family. Although the primary role of the Apache crew was to prevent insurgent attacks, it was a role that had also made him the first Royal to admit killing someone in a hundred years. That was the question every reporter who had made the journey to Camp Bastion wanted to ask. Had Harry killed enemy fighters from the air? His answer was matter-of-fact and extremely significant.
Asked if he had made a kill, he replied: ‘Lots of people have. Take a life to save a live,’ he shrugged. ‘That’s what we revolve around, I suppose. If there’s people trying to do bad stuff to our guys, then we’ll take them out of the game, I suppose. The squadron’s been out here. Everyone’s fired a certain amount.’
He also confirmed that he had come under fire, adding: ‘Yes, you get shot at. But if the guys who are doing the same job as us are being shot at on the ground, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with us being shot at as well.’
Harry’s comments about killing the Taliban were jumped on all over the world. In another interview recorded as he returned to the UK, he was again questioned about being the first Royal to have killed for many years. He said: ‘It’s not the reason I decided to do this job. The reason to do this job was to get back out here and carry on with a job.’
He explained how the roles of Apaches themselves and the CPGs inside the cockpit have developed since the aircraft were first introduced in Helmand. ‘It used to be very much: front seat, you’re firing the whole time. Now, yes, we fire when we have to – take a life to save a life – but essentially we’re more of a deterrent than anything else. We’re a hugely reliable asset and the main thing for us is the tricky escorts. If guys get injured, we come straight into the overhead, box off any possibility of an insurgent attack because they look at us and just go, “Right, that’s an unfair fight, we’re not going to go near them.”
‘But occasionally we get taken on, the guys get taken on, even when we’re in the overhead. It’s a pretty complex job for everybody involved. But it’s not just about the shooting, it’s about giving the effect to the [enemy] guys on the ground, and that’s not always pulling the trigger.’
It was a soldier’s logic and one that most members of the public would see as understandable and acceptable. You are sent to war to fight, and if the situation arises where you have to pull the trigger, then so be it. But it was a sensitive subject for someone as senior in his family as Harry to speak about openly. And it had the effect of making him an even greater target for terrorist attacks in the future. Since Harry returned from Afghanistan he has become one of the most heavily guarded Royals. In the warped logic of Islamic extremists, he would henceforth always be seen as a legitimate target because of his role as a soldier. Details of his security are a closely guarded secret for obvious reasons, but Harry’s team of protection officers are heavily boosted by the security services whenever he appears in public.
The return home from Afghanistan was a time of mixed emotions for Harry. The anger and disappointment he had felt when his first tour of duty was cruelly cut short was now replaced with a sense of uncertainty about his future. Being back in the front line had not given him the same thrill he had felt when serving on the ground. Sure there had been some exciting moments flying high above the conflict zone and executing his role with distinction. But was it really what Harry wanted? His love for the Army was about the freedom it offered, being one of the guys, a normal officer doing the job he was paid to do.
But the role of an Apache co-pilot stationed at Bastion had fallen well short of this, and in his heart Harry knew he would never be able to return to the Household Cavalry and continue where he left off. The Afghan conflict was changing and the process of handing the fighting over to the country’s national army was now at an advanced stage. Top brass were already planning how to remove British troops from the conflict zone as the political will to see the war out had faded away.
Without Afghanistan, what future would there be for an Apache pilot? The prospect of flying sorties over Salisbury Plain and spending month after month without an active role filled the prince with dread. But return
ing to the Blues and Royals would mean a lifetime of pen-pushing from behind a desk – something which Harry had openly ruled out from the start of his military career.
In an interview with ITN recorded as Harry arrived in Cyprus on his way home from his second tour, the Royal hinted at this uncertainty over his future. Asked how he felt about doing a ‘normal’ desk job, Harry was frank with his reply. ‘I’d never want to be stuck behind a computer desk. Normal for me? I don’t know what normal is any more, I never really have done. There are three parts of me, one obviously wearing the uniform, one being Prince Harry and the other one which is the private sort of me behind closed doors.’
Asked what lay ahead for his military career, Harry replied: ‘I really don’t know. The Army will have an idea, I presume. What it is, I will do. Given the opportunity, I’d like to take on some more Royal stuff, to the extent that my pre-deployment has been very busy, so hopefully there will be a few gaps that open up. As long as I stay current with my flying and can continue with the job, I can pay more attention to the charities and stuff like that.’
Although his words were somewhat lost in the sea of interviews he had given at the time, this was an admission from the prince that perhaps his focus on the Army was already beginning to flag. Ever since joining Sandhurst to train as an officer, Harry had thrown himself into military life. Since 2005 his feet had hardly touched the ground as he learned to be an officer and then prepared for war. After his switch to the Army Air Corps the intensity of his training increased as Harry focused on making the grade as a helicopter pilot. With his Army Air Corps ‘wings’ under his belt, it was then a full-on period preparing for the second deployment.
On the flight home from Cyprus, however, there was for perhaps the first time in seven years a huge question mark hanging over his head. As it turned out, this was to be the beginning of the end of Harry’s military career.
CHAPTER 22
THE START OF THE REST OF HIS LIFE
The unmanned drone took to the skies above the sun-scorched bushland as its latest mission to track down the enemy began. Crouched nearby, Prince Harry fixed his eyes on the small TV screen onto which the images were being streamed live. Beads of sweat were falling from his face; this was a nervous moment for everyone. Their armed adversaries had made their kill and were desperate to flee the area uncaptured. But if they managed to escape it would mark yet another defeat in the war Harry was now fighting.
As a soldier of ten years’ experience and with two tours of Afghanistan under his belt, the 30-year-old Royal was amply qualified for this latest role. It was summer 2015, just a few weeks after he had officially quit the Army, bringing an end to his decade of service. But now he was engrossed in a new conflict and had a new enemy: the poachers who had illegally slaughtered endangered rhinos for their horns. And instead of the badlands of Helmand Province, Harry was fighting this war in South Africa’s vast Kruger National Park.
The warrior prince was the newest recruit in the fight to save the beasts whose existence is threatened by the fact their horns are worth more than their weight in gold. Instead of his military regalia, Harry now donned the khaki slacks and green fleece of the Kruger rangers’ unit.
Out there in the rugged bush of what is South Africa’s biggest tourist attraction, the prince once again felt the reassuring feeling of freedom. He was there to do a job and to help protect one of the world’s most endangered species. He was a ranger, not a prince; it was the kind of escape he had always been looking for. But was this three-month deployment to the African bush the answer for a Royal whose advisers had earlier that year confirmed he was looking for a new role?
We know that Harry had craved a life in the Army since he had been a little boy. And we know that what appealed to him was the relative ‘normality’ of a military career. It was because of this that many people on the outside were surprised to hear that at the relatively young age of thirty, the prince had decided to ‘retire’. It has also been claimed that in making this decision he was defying the advice of his inner circle and, more importantly, his father, Prince Charles. The Army had given Harry a purpose and direction that seemed so crucial to the people around him. But returning from Afghanistan for the second time really had been a watershed for him.
The days when he could perform a useful role leading his men in the front line were numbered. In reality he would soon need to serve his commanders in a different way, leading men from behind a desk, managing, planning and passing on his skills to his juniors. Even promotion to major meant first going to Staff College.
This troubled Harry, the soldier’s soldier who entered the job determined to be hands-on and out in the field. But any suggestions that he reached his decision quickly were wide of the mark. After returning from Afghanistan he had remained with the 662 Squadron 3 Regiment Army Air Corps and continued to live at the unit’s base in Wittisham, Suffolk. But in the back of his mind the dilemma over his future began to dominate Harry’s thoughts.
With this uncertainty in the background, in May 2013 Harry had made good on a promise he had made to some wounded American soldiers and agreed to fly to Colorado to support the Warrior Games. But even Harry might be forgiven for underestimating the profound effect this engagement would have in his life.
Run by the US Olympic Committee, the Warrior Games had been set up to allow wounded US servicemen and women to compete in an annual sporting competition. It was like a miniature Paralympics, designed to help them overcome their debilitating injuries. Harry was already well aware that in the United States, wounded troops were rightly regarded as national heroes. It was a legacy of the Vietnam War, when many former soldiers ended up on the streets, unable to overcome their physical and mental scars. In 2013 the Warrior Games were in their fifth year, and the attendance of someone with Harry’s profile provided the event with a welcome boost.
As ever, Harry was happy to muck in, and he was pictured taking part in a game of seated volleyball with wounded servicemen and women. His involvement had the required effect of guaranteeing coverage in both the US and UK media, and it seemed to pass off like any of his set-piece Royal visits. But this one was different. While those who met Harry and enjoyed his support would doubtless have gone away feeling happy, it was actually the effect they had on him that would really have a lasting impact.
It was during that three-day visit that the penny dropped for Harry. It was a eureka moment for a soldier who was desperately searching for ways he could combine his Army role with that of a senior member of the Royal family. He thought: ‘Why can’t we have something like this in Britain?’
It was like his experience as a teenager, coming face-to-face with the plight of the forgotten children of Lesotho. During his gap year he had spent weeks working alongside volunteers in the tiny African kingdom where one of the world’s highest HIV and AIDS rates had decimated the population. The profound experience back then led to him founding Sentebale and throwing his weight behind the campaign to save lives. Returning home from Colorado, he was once again filled with the feeling that perhaps there was something he could do to get involved.
Harry is a surprisingly spontaneous person who will often act on instinct rather than carefully thought through plans. In some ways this has been a weakness, particularly when it has contributed to some of the less sensible decisions he has made. But when it comes to making something good happen, this spontaneity is a definite strength. Before his plane had even touched down in the UK, his head was awash with ideas. He began grilling his support team. ‘What’s to stop us bringing the Warrior Games to Britain?’ he asked. ‘What if we challenged the American troops and let our boys take them on – it could work,’ he continued.
In fact the challenge had already been laid down. In a speech at the Warrior Games he had appeared wide-eyed as he told the competitors: ‘I only hope in the future, the near future, we can bring the Warrior Games to Britain and continue to enlarge this fantastic cause. I don’t see how it wouldn’t be possi
ble to fill a stadium with 80,000 people, not to watch Olympics, not to watch Paralympics, but to watch wounded servicemen fight it out amongst each other – not on a battlefield but in a stadium.’ He then got a laugh from his American audience by saying: ‘I hope this is something you will all take a huge interest in, as your nation will be coming probably second if not third to the UK team.’
Over the coming weeks the prince refused to let his idea drop. He gathered together his team at Kensington Palace and set about trying to persuade the Ministry of Defence to agree to the idea. At last the flatness he had felt since coming home from Afghanistan had been replaced with excitement about what was to come. It is testament to Harry’s passion for an idea that in July the following year he was standing there at the opening ceremony of the inaugural Invictus Games in London’s Olympic Park. Invictus – Latin for undefeated – summed up the spirit of the event for Harry as he stood beside Prime Minister David Cameron, his father Prince Charles, and William and Kate.
The games were also significant for another reason, however. As Harry immersed himself in the task of getting them up and running, it allowed him to finally draw a line under his role as an Apache pilot.
In January 2013, with preparations for the summer games in full flow, Harry’s spokesman at Kensington Palace put an end to the speculation about his future with a statement confirming the prince would take up a staff officer role in HQ London District. According to the statement this would mean Captain Wales would focus his efforts in helping to coordinate ‘significant projects and commemorative events’ involving the Army. After Harry’s three and a half years flying Apaches, his spokesman was conceding that a job behind a desk was in store for the prince, who had for so long resisted such a role.
The statement was a thinly veiled admission that Harry’s military career was all but over. From now on, although employed by the Army, his focus would be firmly on his duties as a Royal soldier. Gone were the days when he would be yomping over Salisbury Plain, or soaring about the East Anglian coastline on training sorties in his Apache. It was of course a desk job, but it was a desk job that the prince would be able to control. The question now was how long would this continue before Harry decided he was ready to call time on his career?
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