Prince Harry who is 23 years old has already spent 10 weeks fighting in the Helmand Province. Currently, he is the third in line to the throne of Britain. He had joked about the nickname given to him which was “the bullet magnet.” The nickname was for good reason as there have been concerns that whatever unit Prince Harry gets placed it would be in the most dangerous predicament due to his title.
In that regard of his nickname, Harry said: “I finally get the chance to do the soldiering that I want to do.”
For those ten weeks, Harry’s deployment was blacked out by a deal between the British media and the Ministry of Defense. However, news of Harry’s deployment was made known after the story was leaked out by the foreign media. The army’s head, Sir Richard Dannatt said he was disappointed of what happened.
Dannatt said: “I am very disappointed that foreign websites have decided to run this story without consulting us.
“This is in stark contrast to the highly responsible attitude that the whole of the UK print and broadcast media, along with a small number overseas, who have entered into an understanding with us over the coverage of Prince Harry on operations.”
The deal with the British media and MoD was that if they do not report Prince Harry’s deployment, some of the media organizations could interview and film him in action in Afghanistan.
Current, Prince Harry is part of the Household Cavalry unit. He acts as a tactical air controller while going out on foot patrols. So far, Prince Harry has not been getting any special treatment.
Prince Harry said in an interview: “I haven’t had a shower for four days, I haven’t washed my clothes for a week.
“It’s very nice to be sort of a normal person for once, I think it’s about as normal as I’m going to get.
“I am still a little bit conscious of the fact that if I show my face too much in and around the area – luckily there’s no civilians around here because it’s…a no-man’s land.
“But I think that if, up north when I do go up there, if I do go on patrols in amongst the locals, I’ll still be very wary about the face that I do need to keep my face slightly covered just on the off-chance that I do get recognised, which will put other guys in danger.
“The Gurkhas think it’s hysterical how I am called the ‘bullet magnet’, but they’ve yet to see why.”
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