Prince Harry

Could not give it a duck's ass! Good luck to him...

Is he worth more than the next Grunt? Answer is no. IMO.

So let's let history take its course. 

I rather doubt that he is the son one the HRH The Prince Wales ....

ATB from George

Of course it's madness publicising it. Maybe it's a PR effort to offset recent photos? Deployment will certainly make him a prime target along with his fellow 'Grunts' and capture would be a fabulous bargaining/propaganda tool for the Taliban. 

He's a spoiled brat playing Rambo with his own little Apache helicopter. Pictures of him aiming and firing a machine gun, as if it was all a joke? He is never going to mix it at the deep end anyways cause everyone at home will be worried sick that he could die, so he's getting some safe flying missions. Nothing heroic about it, just some young lad with too much testosterone thinking he needs to prove his manhood. What a joke. In any case ain't none of our business being there. Only reason Nato is out there is because some idiot called George Bush thought it would be a good idea to wage war against a new type of enemy. Communism didn't quite cut it any longer. It's all one big con, geo political games played by some motherf*ckers we call government. Sad thing is the men out there risking their lives and worst case loosing it actually think they are doing something important when in fact they are just being used and screwed by their countries' politicians. Once done they get sent home and nobody gives a f*ck about them or the mental scars they need to come to terms with. Maybe a medal to shut them up. It is sickening and those responsible should be ashamed. But let's talk some more about Harry, such a nice lad, ain't he, with his Nazi costume. Say, does this guy actually have a brain or is he just plain stupid?

A stupid person can't fly an Apache. At all. 

I would argue that anyone who spends his life training to pilot a machine designed to kill people is making a stupid choice.

What is it with Royalty and the arnmed forces anyway? Why do they all have to have this wretched miltaristic be-medalled image. I hate it.

Does Harry and his ilk do much for the civilian victims of his efforts? Does he help those 'heroes'? Oh, sorry, I guess they don't count because they are not wearing a uniform. They just happened to be sat in a field/school/village when a monstrous machine from another century came and blew their lives apart.

Sorry. The armed forces may serve their leaders but they don't represent me. I wish Harry no harm and I really do not care what he does much but I'd prefer if he was not killing people.

Bruce

I'll get my coat.

He's in a lose-lose situation. I'm not a royalist, and I hate conflict, but whatever the royals do they'll appear stupid/dated/surplus to requirements to many of us. 

Most Afghans don't have their homes blasted to pieces. 

Tony

PR stunt to cover the fact that he is a complete waste of space.

Good luck to him is wot I say. OK his privileged birth made it all possible.

It does make sense for the closely attached royals to join the military after they have pushed the limit of brain cells at uni. No real geniuses seeming to emerge in the family, then they have to ask what else they could do.  The truth is a professional career in industry or commerce would not fit too well with the family & public duty expectations.

He gets to be a relatively free agent for a few years of this before the all too soon rest of his shackled closeted life arrives.  He does get the chance to sign up for a number of years if that's what he & "management" think is right & there is absolutely nothing wrong with a professional military career. 

He has been selected to fly one of the most advanced flying machines on the planet & what can only be every 'copter pilots dream (ask Tony Lockhart, he mends them)  He was top of his class so that at least shows he has something between the ears & he might just be an ideal person for that job.  

The fact that he gets found out having fun waving the crown jewels around at a private party is unfortunate but surely is more of an error by his security team than his own common sense that remained with the youthful exuberance, crumpet drooling over him & the booze.

But hey lets get honest,  who did not do something stupid like that when you were that age.  I did, & quite a few times - thanks for it all & I wish I did more of it in my reminiscing years.

He gets to go to places & do things that interest him with his charity / humanitarian work.  OK some large & some very private doors get opened for him & I am seriously envious of that . 

I don't care  but most of all I wish I wish I wish ………………

Harry:

a) Looks nothing like his "official" Dad

b) Seems as thick as pigshit (but probably isn't)

c) Dresses up as a Nazi

d) Plays "strip billiards" [why isn't this an Olympic sport] in Vegas

e) Falls out of nightclubs with posh slappers

f) Seems like a really good laugh

g) Plays the part of a spare prince to perfection

h) Might well be a fantastic soldier

So, what's not to like?

Good luck Harry, I say.

Got no time for the guy. Although now he is at last doing a little work,instead of rolling out of yet another nightclub at 4 in the morning completely ratarsed,and us the taxpayer having to pick up the tab for his personal protection officers etc.

Mista h

I have no liking for the Royals as a whole, and certainly Prince Harry has played the fool many times. But in mitigation he lost his mother, who unlike many Royals, demonstrated a great love for her children, at a very tender age. He was raised by a father much too busy with his own affairs to pay very much attention to the well-being and nurturing of his sons. Yes he is extremely privelaged in some ways, yes he is a spoilt brat in some ways. Yet in other respects he has had a pretty rough ride in growing up. I would not swap the love and care freely given to me by my own parents during my childhood and formative years for all the privelages that Prince Harry has. Good luck to him.

Peter

Can't win can he?

He's either a useless layabout, leaching off the taxpayer. Or when he does learn to do something that is very difficult for a career (on many levels) and then fights for 'his' country, he's a waste of space playing at soldiers. Might as well just fall on his sword then.

Personally it seems to me that Harry & William both use their positions quite effectively for the benefit of others, be that numerous charity partnerships or on behalf of GB plc. etc. as well as enjoying their own lives tremendously.

He is a kept man. Privileged and accountable to no one.

That he is in the military and carries out some charity work is to his credit, but he would be really admired if he withdrew into private life, got off the state payroll and made his own way.

....... and stopped acting like a prat.

Honestly, if any of us guys behaved in the way he does, we would be labelled a right k...bhead in our community. So why can't he ?

P.S. He's in the military (now) and does charity work because he has f.... all else to do . It also helps to heal his battered PR.

Its  a very slick move by the Royal PR machine nothing more nothing less .  something his mother had down to a fine art !

So many emotive subjects under one simple heading.................

What are we doing in Afghanistan

Why can't the world live in peaceful, harmony

Should we have a military capability

When should that capability be deployed

Who decides

Should we have a Royal Family

What should it's role be

What role should second-in-line prices play (Prince Andrew served in the Falklands)

How should ithe Royal family be funded

seems like the list is endless and I am currently watching thousands of people happily singing Rule Britania.......

.........complicated, isn't it ?

Cheers

Don

The Muses, still with freedom found

Shall to thy happy coast repair

Blest Isle! With matchless beauty crown'd

And manly hearts to guard the fair

Just about sums it up really

Cheers

Don

I'm guessing you don't have any idea how the rest of the British military's officers behave when they're tanked up then. They're nothing to be proud of when they're in high spirits, and remember that the drunken bunch of arseoles will include supply officers, transport officers etc etc, not just combat pilots. 

Clear out the royals AND the current officer corps. That'll with step in the right direction towards destroying the awful class system that holds UK plc back, and prevents the armed forces performing to their best. 

Tony

No I don't, but I didn't mention anything about this in my post .

If the rest of the British military officers behave the same, then they are k...bheads too. Maybe I'm a little too old-fashioned, but I'm of the opinion that officers of Her Majestys Services should be above this primitive behaviour.

I do not think anyone outside the UK would give it a thought. At least for me anyway.

Leave hime alone, he is just a little kid who needs some fun, and that is absolutely normal.

My take on this is that he should be deployed provided doing so doesn't significantly endanger his fellow personnel.  Frankly his life is no more or less valuable than any other serving person.  As for whether or not the Apache is difficult or easy to fly I'd hazard a guess it's difficult, however I would suspect that whereas normal pilots are given only so much training to reach the desired standard before being chopped I bet they trained him for as long as it took.

In relation to his exploits in Vegas I'm well aware that high spirited behaviour is the norm amongst members of the armed services, they are occasionally facing dangers that the rest of us can only imagine and to a degree I think you can excuse some of it.  The difference however with Harry is that whereas normal officers pay for their own booze and live according to their relatively modest salary I'm paying for his booze and seemingly extravagant lifestyle.  It would also seem to me that he gets a huge amount of time off compared to a normal serving pilot which also seems wrong.

We'd all like to swig champagne by the bucket-load and stay in suites at thousands of pounds a night but for most of us, and most serving military personnel it's simply not possible.

Oh and as for the frolicking with half naked nubile beauties I can't say I blame him having seen them.  I'm beginning to wonder if I somehow missed out in my youth and spent far too much time taking girlfriends to Edwardian tearooms or the cinema rather than just getting straight down to the old English tradition of strip billiards! Perhaps he could send some my way when he's finished with them (seeing as how I probably paid for some of their drinks that night...)

Jonathan

From memory, his training certainly didn't take longer than was planned. I've no idea how well he did, and I've obviously no idea how much battlefield cover he'll be providing in theatre. However, the Apache has been a key player in Operation Herrick, and he ain't there for fun, so I'm guessing he will be in the thick of it a few times. And those cockpit windows can't stop a fifty cal. 

Tony