Royal combatants in Iraq?

Send 'em all there.

quote:

I have a strong view, but invite other views, before sharing mine [as usual].

All individuals have the right to choose to put themselves in harm's way. I suppose the problem in this case is Harry could end up increasing the risk to other British soldiers as insurgents are energised by prospect of a high-value scalp.

It's a tough call. You've got to ask yourself what the point of all that training was if they're not going to allow him to serve; all concerned should have foreseen this scenario.

I incline against it, but only because I don't see the point of making life harder for our soldiers than it already is. If it's more dead soldiers or Harry's ego...

EW

They joined up and they want to go.

Send them.

Not sure how they could be targeted more than anyone else...

Anyone able to persuade Prince Charles to carry out a kamikaze mission?

quote:

Originally posted by Melnobone:
Not sure how they could be targeted more than anyone else...

I think the point is it's added incentive for the insurgents - killing a member of the British Royal family would be quite a coup.

I am disgusted that the army brass are trying to lay the decision on his deployment at the government's door. Its the army's responsibility to make the decision. Personally I think if you sign up you go.

quote:

Originally posted by bob mccluckie:

Personally I think if you sign up you go.

Agreed.

We are talking about the military here, aren't we? The Prince is in the Army. Presumeably he signed the same paperwork as the rest of the officers?

As for being a target - can the British Army not keep secrets or something?

The Royals get too much special treatment as it is.

Let him serve and take his chance like the sons and daughters of us plebs.

quote:

Originally posted by Deane F:
As for being a target - can the British Army not keep secrets or something?

I'm sure the tabloid papers will see to that. They'll have Harry's death on thier hands too. Shame we can't send Philip with a tracking device fitted, and leak his exact position.

It's the targeting/capture thing isn't it.

Most service personnel try to keep their head down and not make themselves a target. How overjoyed would you be if, as a serving soldier in Iraq, Harry was assigned to your tank/carrier etc.

You wouldn't want to stand too close to him would you?

quote:

Originally posted by Nigel Cavendish:
Let him serve and take his chance like the sons and daughters of us plebs.

Yes, but what if sending Harry there gets a lot more sons and daughters of us plebs killed? Harry wants to play at being soldier, but it could make life very difficult for the rest of our forces having such a prize target in their midst. His ego could result in a lot of body bags being filled with dead British soldiers.

quote:

Originally posted by JamieWednesday:
How overjoyed would you be if, as a serving soldier in Iraq, Harry was assigned to your tank/carrier etc.

You wouldn't want to stand too close to him would you?

.. exactly!

quote:

Originally posted by Deane F:

quote:

Originally posted by bob mccluckie:

Personally I think if you sign up you go.

Agreed.

We are talking about the military here, aren't we? The Prince is in the Army. Presumeably he signed the same paperwork as the rest of the officers?

Firstly, my comments on this particular issue are made aside from what I may or may not think on the general question of whether we should be in Iraq or not.

On the face of it, the prima facie argument 'he signed up, so he should go' seems a strong one (especially as Uncle Andy went to the Falklands). But it's not as simple as that...

The Army is not Harry's personal plaything. He signed up like the others, he's paid by British taxpayers like the others, and British taxpayers paid for his expensive and excellent training - both at Sandhurst and after commissioning.

But that must also mean that he must obey his orders like the others. It is up to the Army chiefs, in consultation with UK and - importantly - Iraqi advisors, to make the necessary strategic decision:

1) Implications of Harry's deployment on the situation in Iraq - will his presence per se help or exacerbate the situation?

2) Implications of potential capture / torture / videod beheading of a British royal, consequent escalation, etc, etc.

3) Implications for the personal safety / security / risk of Harry's comrades.

4) (and lastly) Implications for the personal safety / security / risk of Harry himself.

As a serving Army Officer, he is a man under authority. If - having weighed up all the arguments - his senior commanders order him to go, he should go; if they order him to stay, he should stay*.

And, however personally disappointed he might be in the latter situation, the Army is not his personal plaything - he should stop being a petulant young man and obey his orders.

In the end, THAT is what he signed up for (like the rest) to obey his orders, whatever they are.

(*or go, with modifications to his duties, etc, etc.)

James

I agree with EW. Of course if a man signs up for the Armed Forces, he should go into action as required, but in this case clearly he will be a massive risk to his collegues. It is in consideration of them that I say that it is a mistake to send the Prince to serve in Iraq.

This should have been predicted, and he should not have been enrolled in the Army at the present time, in my view, given the probabilty that he would soon be required to serve there.

Kindest regards from Fredrik

I couldn't care less - it's his job.

I suppose it's a bit late to consider this now, and the situation should have been thought of before he signed up. It is a very different world now from when the others were doing it.
The only answer is for a complete media blackout.

It has just been on the radio that he is off to Iraq.

Good luck to the lad, I hope he gets home safely.

It would have been far better if the whole thing had been played down from the start, and he'd just been left to do the job he's trained for.

I didn't mean to sound as harsh as I did in my previous post, I'm just not much of a royalist(!)

He has taken the Queen's Shilling so he should go where his skills are required although he is the spare I expect him to be treated just the same as others serving with him. Does it set an example to others? Not sure but it might be rather character forming and be of good use to him in the future. Will the Bush twins become Candystripers and do a stint in say Bahrain or Qatar? I expect not.

Some interesting knee-jerk reactions by people that really have not thought about the implications of Harry serving.

The man will be a bomb magnet; every Jihadist in the Middle East will be vying for the "honour" of killing or capturing him. This will put members of his Regiment in much greater danger than they would be if he where not there.

This is obvious.

As this is the case, either he should not go or the bloody MoD should not have announced he might deploy.

And as for the press...

Mike is right. Harry in Iraq is an operational nightmare. There will be a bounty on his head. Every member of his Regiment will be effected. Every officer from his CO upwards has passed the buck further up the chain of command until it was left for the MoD to balls up. The only people (for want of a better term)to profit from this are the media slags who doubtless are praying for something catastrophic to happen.

Mike and Acad

The boy joined the British Army, did he not? The British Army is deployed in Iraq. If he joined the Army but cannot be made use of by the Army, then some serious questions are raised, surely?

If he is an operational nightmare then surely he should not be in the bleedin' Army...?

Deane

That is right. This situation would have been clear since before he enlisted. Alright, it would not have been something that would have struck me [it didn't] but it must have been obvious to the Army Command.

Fredrik

Deane,

I am sure the Army could find a hundred and one good uses for Harry. There are plenty of Officers who are not in Iraq! The Army can not treat Harry as a 'normal' officer along the lines suggested by you and other posters on this thread for a number of reasons not least of which is the obvious fact that the opposition will not treat Harry as a normal officer and it is this which causes the huge operational difficulties. He will be a huge target and to treat him as no different than anyone else is to invite the opposition to target him and therefore his unit with hitherto unparalled ferocity and resources without offering additional support for Harry or his colleagues - this is clearly unacceptable. Even if the UK government bans the UK media from reporting on Harry in Iraq it won't stop other reporters from doing so and I am sure the opposition will make use of the information. Iraq is not a conventional war - the British Army has a very different role there and Harry has no place in it in my view.

Acad

I can agree with your point regarding the Prince, but it looks very much to me like the Royal Family just uses the British Armed Forces as a "finishing school" for their boys, which is a bit sickening, really.

Deane