posted on February 22, 2007 02:44:53 PM new
Prince Harry will serve in Iraq
Prince Harry's regiment is to be sent to Iraq for a six-month tour of duty, defence officials have confirmed.
Harry would carry out "a normal troop commander's role" serving with his Blues and Royals regiment, they said.
The prince was praised by Prime Minister Tony Blair as a "brave and determined young man" with "a very special character".
He will be the first senior royal to serve on the front line since Prince Andrew in the Falklands in 1982.
This will involve "leading a troop of 12 men in four Scimitar armoured reconnaissance vehicles, each with a crew of three" from the regiment's "A squadron", a joint statement from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Clarence House said.
"The decision to deploy him has been a military one, made by Chief of General Staff, Gen Sir Richard Dannatt, in conjunction with Cornet Wales' commanding officer," it added.
"The Royal household has been consulted throughout."
Further details of exactly where Harry, 22, would serve, or his specific role, would not be released because such a move would be "potentially dangerous", the statement added.
Speaking in an interview with the BBC on Thursday night, Mr Blair said Harry's determination to serve in Iraq was "very typical of him".
"He's a brave young man and he's a very determined young man who wants to be part of his regiment and part of the Army," he said.
"I think that shows a very special character on his part."
Sandhurst graduation
A Blues and Royals source said Harry, who has long expressed his determination to see front-line action, was "over the moon" at the deployment.
Last year, the prince said: "There's no way I'm going to put myself through Sandhurst and then sit on my arse back home while my boys are out fighting for their country."
In a written statement to MPs, Defence Secretary Des Browne said two squadrons from Harry's Household Cavalry Regiment would be deployed with the rotation of troops to take place in May and June.
The lead formation of British troops, currently 19 Light Brigade, would be replaced by 1 Mechanised Brigade, supported by Prince's Harry's regiment, the statement added.
Prince Harry graduated from Sandhurst in April last year and qualified as an armoured reconnaissance troop leader in October.
His rank of Cornet is used by a small number of cavalry units including the Blues and Royals and is the equivalent of the more usual rank of 2nd Lieutenant.
Known to colleagues as Troop Commander Wales, he is able to lead reconnaissance units known as the Army's "eyes and ears".
Confirmation of the deployment comes after Prime Minister Tony Blair told MPs that 1,600 British troops would return from Iraq within the next few months.
He said the 7,100 serving troops in the south of Iraq around Basra would be cut to 5,500 soon, with hopes that 500 more will leave by late summer.
Prince Andrew, Harry's uncle, was a helicopter pilot in the Falklands conflict.
posted on February 23, 2007 12:33:30 AM new
No one EVER said it was "perfect"....again that's all in your own mind.
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I've read he was going...then not going...now he's going again...at his OWN insistance. Said that he'd leave their service IF they didn't allow him to go with his unit when they were deployed. An honorable young MAN.
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LONDON, Feb. 22 — Britain made headlines on Wednesday by saying it would bring some troops home from southern Iraq.
On Thursday, it made even more waves here by saying it would send one soldier in the opposite direction: Prince Harry, second son of Diana, Princess of Wales, and third in line to the throne.
Apart from being known as something of a playboy prince, Harry, 22, is a soldier, a second lieutenant in the upper-crust Blues and Royals Regiment of the Household Cavalry, who graduated from the Sandhurst military academy last year.
Despite fears among his official handlers that he would be a "bullet magnet" in Iraq, he has long insisted that he would not countenance the idea of the soldiers under his command in an armored reconnaissance unit going without him.
"There's no way I'm going to put myself through Sandhurst, and then sit on my arse back home while my boys are out fighting for their country," he once told a television interviewer.
On Thursday, he got his wish.
"His Royal Highness Prince Harry will deploy to Iraq later this year," the Defense Ministry and the prince's own office announced jointly in a statement that clearly reflected his superiors' worries that his presence could draw fire on him and those serving with him.
Military planners also have expressed concern that he could be kidnapped.
In the military, the prince is known by the surname Wales, and his rank in the Blues and Royals is cornet, equivalent to second lieutenant. "Speculation about precisely where Cornet Wales will serve, or the exact details of his role, is potentially dangerous," the statement said.
All news organizations, the statement said, were being asked to "respect this matter of operational security so that Cornet Wales can undertake a normal tour of duty, which is his express wish and that of the army." A normal tour is six months.
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
Ann Coulter
[ edited by Linda_K on Feb 23, 2007 12:36 AM ]
