Exactly – there are far too many desk sucking pen pushing ‘leaders’ out there who can’t tell a bullet from a ballpoint. Getting shot at would really help them keep things in perspective and allow their troops to get the job done properly than playing hawk one minute and PR muffin the next.

This reminds me of Col. Bhawani Singh http://preview.tinyurl.com/33c993 the heir to Jaipur who won a Maha Vir Chakra for his service in the 1971 Indo-Pak war where he commanded a long range patrol unit.

I don’t really think I have to.

It does help take you seriously.

that in this case the ‘individual’ is not an ‘ordinary’ one, and that he should consider the rest of us

I’ve never asked him to consider me?!

Why on earth should any of them not be allowed to do this?

I have no idea.

But then i never suggested he shouldn’t be allowed to serve in the army. I explicitly said I’m not questioning his right to serve in the military.

I also never said his presence was an aggravating factor in terms of ’security risk’; i couldn’t care less that drudge broke the story, and it wouldn’t bother me if he had died in Afghanistan.

I don’t believe the symbolism of his presence was helpful to what ‘the coalition’ is trying to achieve in Afghanistan. I don’t beleive that what he did in Afghanistan was ‘as normal as it gets’ either with regards to the rest of his comrades or with the rest of us. As such i question the decision to send him.

Now all of you commenting can dispute that i’d have no problem with it (as long as you try to say why). But can we all at least start on the same page. I don’t care how much danger he faced or how brave he was. I’ve never said there should be a law barring him from joining the military and its getting a tad tiresome to have to continually point that out. I gave the analogy of Northern Ireland, if we were in the 70s and he’d just completed a tour there, there would have been nothing normal about what he did and i think his presence would have been counter productive. And before anyone asks hes already signed his life away. He chose to be put in a situation where he was given orders about what to do. He has no right to tell his superiors where to send him.

Harry’s a member of the Army. He’s an officer. Plenty of officers come from the middle and upper classes and supplement their Army income from private means. Come to that, plenty of middle and upper class people take non-military jobs with low pay and supplement it from family wealth or other private means too. Why on earth should any of them not be allowed to do this? Are we saying that people who have incomes shouldn’t work because their experiences aren’t “authentic” enough?

As for Harry’s presence aggravating the situation, I do see that argument, but it only became a security risk once Drudge broke the story and as soon as the story was broken he got sent home – making him the only member of his regiment who isn’t putting his life on the line, which is exactly what he wanted to avoid. I personally don’t doubt his commitment to his job or to his regiment and I should think he feels like absolute shit.

Sonia makes some excellent points, I think. I don’t think it’s remotely realistic to think that he could have avoided this position by “resigning” his royal position. He’s been photographed daily all over the world since he was born. He can’t resign being Royal any more than he can resign being white.

That’s the royal spirit. Shabash Harry! In the Mahabharata it is said that when the Kauravas attacked Virat Desh during the Pandava’s thirteenth year of exile, when the latter were expected to remain in hiding, Abhimanyu too joined the Kaurava host! That’s a professional soldier for you. Fighting is simply a matter of dharam and karam. It’s so fine to know that the English royals are keeping the standard of tradition aloft and flying! Great work!

Brett over at Harry’s Place has a good piece on why the media blackout should not have been broken:

http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/archives/2008/02/29/we_dont_need_to_be_knowitalls.php

I would agree. If I were an ordinary Afghan, stuggling to make a normal existence despite the fanatical Taliban trying to enforce their nightmarish rulings, I’d be dead impresseed that the Prince of the UK had came to my country to fight the bastard Taliban.

“We have a completely divergent point of view of why he is there, which is fine but it makes further comment difficult. My analogy was meant to demonstrate why his time in the army wasn’t representative, you’re focussing on the danger aspect – which to me is besides the point.”

Okay, we shall have to agree to differ. For now…

But I don’t think that he is in the army for an experience.

…That is a bit different, as Harry is still exposed to the same dangers as other soldiers, while you wouldn’t be. But even taking your example, then why does it matter if you don’t have the same experience as the people around you?

We have a completely divergent point of view of why he is there, which is fine but it makes further comment difficult. My analogy was meant to demonstrate why his time in the army wasn’t representative, you’re focussing on the danger aspect – which to me is besides the point.

Kulvinder, Afghanistan is neither Iraq or Northern Ireland, so your comparisons are spurious. Your post and comments are thick with opinion, not fact. You write about “public opinion in Afghanistan” as if they watched GMTV and read the Sun. Your perspective is hopelessly Western-centric. My guess is an ordinary Afghan is as likely to be impressed by a real prince from a tradition he can identify with than any politician, or armchair activist. Get real.