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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that Prince Harry is putting soldier's lives at risk and shouldn't be on active service

58 replies

wiggofan · 15/09/2012 14:33

Relieved to hear that he's safe after the recent attack and "his life was never in danger" but this isn't likely to be much comfort to the relatives of the two soldiers killed.

OP posts:
kim147 · 15/09/2012 15:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Tuttutitlookslikerain · 15/09/2012 15:27

If Harry was like most young lads he wouldn't have got to Sandhurst with a B and a D at A level. DS1 is working his arse off to get the required minimum entry of 180 UCAs point which equates to a B& aC . He will get the results,he got 4 B's at AS, he just needs to get in.

I know it's not relevant, but Harry is there because he is a Prince, if he was your's or my DS he wouldn't be an Officer and that is another reason why it pisses me off greatly!

GoldShip · 15/09/2012 16:07

THIS AGAIN!

wannaBe · 15/09/2012 16:16

so, Harry goes to Vegas, has a naked billiardd party which ends up in the tabloids and he should grow up and stop living like a lad. So he goes to Afghanistan to do his job and he should stop doing that because he's putting other people at risk. Which is it then? Hmm

I think Harry should be out there doing his job. What I don't think is that the media needed to be making a big deal out of him being there and thus alerting every organisation with an agenda to the fact.

Presumably there was less attention on the soldiers killed because they were American. I don't imagine British deaths are reported in the US at all...

ddubsgirl · 15/09/2012 16:22

the media should stop telling the world where he is posted,thats not harrys fault,he has a job and is the same as all the others out there and should be treated the same its the bloody press making a big deal out of it!

Original poster
wiggofan · 15/09/2012 16:28

wannaBe - of course he should have a job, but one where he can be protected more easily and won't be putting other peoples lives at risk. He could serve his country just as well if had an office based job but then he wouldn't be an action man.

OP posts:
wannaBe · 15/09/2012 16:33

but "he" is not putting peoples' lives at risk. When Harry was in Afghanistan previously he was on the ground. The only point when lives were considered to be at risk was when the media decided to report on it. Now he is a helicopter pilot and people are far less at risk than they would have been.

What needs to happen isn't that he should be given an alternative job, but that the media need to stop reporting on his whereabouts. We don't need to know where he is at any given time.

BlackberryIce · 15/09/2012 16:36

He is a security risk wherever he goes, wherever he works!

MyNeighbourIsStrange · 15/09/2012 16:39

A press blackout on Harry's placement within the army would help.

Tuttutitlookslikerain · 15/09/2012 16:40

Where do you think he is living WannaBe? He is in Bastion, Bastion was attacked they said one of the reasons was because Harry is there. Yes Bastion is attacked all the time and not reported, but they have said they are going to target it more Harry is there. All the MOD and the press had to do was keep quiet!

YouBrokeMySmoulder · 15/09/2012 16:40

This reminds me of the rape justification of women in short skirts etc, the only reason the soldiers are at risk is the Taliban, not Captain Wales.

LtEveDallas · 15/09/2012 16:41

Actually Prince Harry did fabulously on PreRCB coming top in all bar one test. He also led his Cadet Team for most of his time at Eton, so frankly he's been training for the military since he was barely a teen - its unfair to say he wouldn't have got into RMAS if he wasn't a Prince. If you haven't 'got the right stuff' you'll be turned away even with the 'correct' grades.

He is a very good officer. He knows his stuff, leads well and knows when to blend into the background. Flying is his 'thing'. He beat dozens of others to come top of his intake; he has an aptitude for it that he didn't have quite as much during dismounted training.

It is right that he serves with his military 'brothers'. They wouldnt respect him if he didn't. He is one of the boys on ops and will not stand out from the crowd.

The Taliban targeted Bastion like they always do. 2 US soldiers were killed - that is shit but it is nothing to do with Harry. The reporting is less simply because they were American soldiers, not British. Although the MOD reporting gives every death the same 'billing' - but the Brit press doesn't.

Afghanistan is a dangerous place. It won't be any more or any less dangerous because he is there (although ALL Apache pilots help make it safer for ground troops - we would be far worse off without them). He is a paid soldier (and a taxpayer for all those people who insist of spouting the 'taxpayers paid for his training/holiday/underpants' bollocks) and should work at the coalface with every other soldier.

He doesn't see himself as any more precious as any other soldier, any other mothers son. Stop letting the media hype it up, stop taking offence at things beyond his control. Let him get on with his job.

ZZZenAgain · 15/09/2012 16:43

the soldiers' lives are at risk if they are in Afghanistan irrespective of whether he is there too. I agree though, it might be better not to broadcast where he actually is.

I suppose it is being reported to us in order for us to see a positive side to royal youth, out where the action is showing bravery and fighting alongside the rest of the military forces there. It isn't actually necessary that we know it, we don't know the names of all the other soldiers out there either.

meditrina · 15/09/2012 16:47

"A press blackout on Harry's placement within the army would help"

Help what?

The last attempt at keeping it secret didn't work, and because he was in an exposed position he had to be withdrawn. This time it's a totally different role, and he's somewhere in a camp over around 30,000 people.

lovebunny · 15/09/2012 16:48

they were so convinced that captain wales wasn't at risk, that i wondered if in fact captain wales wasn't there...

Bossybritches22 · 15/09/2012 16:53

The reason the MOD allowed a press release this time Cpt Wales was deployed was last time they tried to keep it quiet & some bloody Aussie pap got hold of the story & blew his cover so he had to flown home(much to his disgust) because it put the rest of his battalion at greater risk that was always the deal as I understand it. If by protecting him others lives are put at greater risk then he has agreed to bow out. This time they are trying to control the press releases, damage limitation.

Harry was already on pre-deployment leave when the Vegas thing broke, so some saying he was shipped out of the way are wrong.

Apaches are hulking great beasts amoured to the hilt and he is probably safer in one of those than on the ground. He has apparently shown great aptitude for flying one. Also Bastion I believe is a huge place so he can get swallowed up in a crowd far quicker than in smaller camps.

Anyway why are we having yet another one of these threads....this is about the 6th one I've seen recently ?!

Original poster
wiggofan · 15/09/2012 17:01

The media were told where he was because he was considered to be safer than on the last tour of duty because he'd be piloting an Apache. Its supposed to be impossible to blow up. Sounded like tempting fate to me when I heard it on the news.

OP posts:
LtEveDallas · 15/09/2012 17:07

No that's not why the media was told - it's explained why by the poster above.

Currently the Taliban does not have the capability of bringing Apache down. That will change, no doubt, but that's not why he's flying, it has nothing to do with his safety, that's just a bonus - he's flying because he's good at it. Many take Apache training, not many pass, in fact very few pass the initial interview. He passed top in his class - lets not waste his talent.

FrankelSaysRelax · 15/09/2012 17:11

Harry was never in any danger. Camp Bastian is huge, it houses thousands of troops, it is more like a small town.

In relation to the Apache, we have never lost an Apache on active service. Ever. It is armed to the teeth and has such high capability that it can lock on to and destroy a target from several miles away. If anyone tried to fire on one, the computer would lock on to the weapons signature and neutralise it in a matter of seconds.

BlackberryIce · 15/09/2012 17:14

What if 2 were aimed at it.... From different directions?

VivaLeBeaver · 15/09/2012 17:17

YABU. The blokes on ARRSE (who I presume know what they're talking about) are pissing themselves laughing at the media saying that Harry been there is putting soldiers lives at risk.

HmmThinkingAboutIt · 15/09/2012 17:17

Relieved to hear that he's safe after the recent attack and "his life was never in danger" but this isn't likely to be much comfort to the relatives of the two soldiers killed.

With respect but have you ever heard of the word PROPAGANDA?

The Taliban are indulging in this, and by reacting in the way you have, you are actually proving its a successful tactic for them. Its actually got very little to do with Harry; its trying to whip up splits in the enemy and public support. Its not just about trying to remove a popular figure from his post either through killing him or through political pressure.

Note he's popular, gets a lot of time from colleagues, seems to boost moral and generally is good for the propaganda war from a British POV.

Therefore YABU for buying into the Taliban's agenda.

LydiasMiletus · 15/09/2012 17:18

This attitude pisses me right off. He has as much right to join the army as anyone else.
The soliders are at risk because they are in a war zone and the terrorists are out to hurt them. As pp said, people on here sound like rape apologists.
My step brother died in afganistan and he was not a wannabe action man. Why is assumed Harry is doing for kicks?

FrankelSaysRelax · 15/09/2012 17:19

Apache helicopter defenses

SoupDragon · 16/09/2012 07:56

On the 10pm news last night, the BBC still said the Taliban blamed it on the film about Mohammed. No mention of Harry being part of the target.