"Prince Harry has become the first member of the Royal Family in 25 years to serve on the front line after it was disclosed yesterday that he has been fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The 23-year-old Prince, who is third in line to the throne, has spent the past 10 weeks with the lives of British troops in his hands in his key role as a battlefield air controller.

He has been operating only 500 yards from enemy positions, calling in air strikes and carrying out surveillance of Taliban fighters in Helmand province. His military base has come under mortar and machine gun attack five times every day.

In the heat of battle it has been Prince Harry, an officer in the Household Cavalry, who would give final clearance for air strikes on Taliban targets. Three British troops have been killed since he arrived in the war zone.

Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, and Gen Sir Richard Dannatt, the Chief of the General Staff, last night led the tributes to the Prince, who they described as an "exemplary" soldier.

However, news of his deployment ignited a diplomatic row, as Sir Richard condemned Australian, German and American websites for exposing the Prince's secret role.

The British media, in conjunction with the Ministry of Defence (MoD), had agreed not to report anything, for the Prince's protection, until he had safely returned. But with his cover blown, a decision will be taken today on whether to withdraw the Prince six weeks early.

There are fears he could become a prime target for the Taliban now they know he is fighting against them, which would also endanger the lives of his comrades.

Even when he is back in Britain, the Prince's personal protection will have to be reviewed, as he concedes al-Qa'eda terrorists will now be looking to assassinate him.

Sir Richard 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 of the whole of the UK print and broadcast media."

The officer was full of praise for Prince Harry's service on the front line. The last member of the Royal Family to take part in a war was the Duke of York, who flew helicopters for the Royal Navy during the Falklands conflict in 1982.

"What the last two months have shown is that it is perfectly possible for Prince Harry to be employed just the same as other Army officers of his rank and experience. His conduct on operations in Afghanistan has been exemplary," said Sir Richard. "He has been fully involved in operations and has run the same risks as everyone else in his battlegroup. In common with all of his generation in the Army today, he is a credit to the nation."

The Prince had been posted to Afghanistan to work at a remote British desert outpost in the south of the province, close to the Pakistan border.

Within days of his arrival - 10 days before Christmas - he was ordered forward to the semi-deserted town of Garmsir alongside an attachment of Gurkha troops.

The British base and the Taliban trenches are separated by a First World War-style No Man's Land.

After the crushing disappointment of being refused permission to serve in Iraq in early 2007 - a move which nearly triggered the Prince's resignation from the Army - the deployment to Afghanistan was cloaked in the utmost secrecy. Even some senior generals were not informed.

The Prince, a Second Lieutenant in the Household Cavalry, had been told he could serve in Iraq as a tank commander, but the decision was rescinded because the MoD feared his presence would lead to a surge in the number of attacks on British troops in Basra.

His role in Afghanistan has put him at the centre of the fight against the Taliban, working round the clock from a fortified operations room where he can track enemy movements. He also had to set co-ordinates for bomb drops. The role brought him into regular contact with British, American, French and Dutch pilots. But none of them knew they were talking to a member of the British Royal Family because he was operating under his call sign "Widow Six Seven".

The decision to deploy the Prince was reached in December, after Sir Richard had consulted the Prime Minister, the Queen and the Prince of Wales.

It was the Queen who broke the news to her grandson that he could fulfil his dream of serving his country. "All my wishes have come true, I managed to get the job done," the Prince said, speaking from his camp known as Forward Operating Base Delhi.

In an interview before he left for Afghanistan, Prince Harry said the posting would give him his first taste of a normal life. He received a letter at the base from his brother, Prince William, who said that their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, would have been proud of her youngest son.

Prince Harry said: "Hopefully, she would be proud. She would be looking down, having a giggle about the stupid things that I have been doing like going left when I should have gone right."

Mr Brown led the tributes last night. He said: "Prince Harry has been an exemplary soldier and is serving with dedication in the finest traditions of our Armed Forces. The whole of Britain will be proud of the outstanding service he is giving. I want to thank Prince Harry and all of our service personnel for their contribution and service."

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, said: "Like all the troops currently fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, Harry has been incredibly brave.

"He has pursued his desire to get on the front line and serve his country with huge determination and courage."

Source:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../nharry129.xml

Here's a little follow-up.

"Everybody who joins a military combat arm - such as the Household Cavalry Regiment - does so in order to fight. Prince Harry is no exception and he was bitterly disappointed when he was not allowed to go to Iraq with his regiment last May.

His deployment in December - as for every soldier on his first active operation - would have been a time of great excitement, tempered with a degree of apprehension.

Of course he is no ordinary Army officer - as third in line to the throne he couldn't be. But Prince Harry has built up a formidable reputation as a fine and competent officer since joining his regiment, and that has been further strengthened in Afghanistan.

Based in a forward operating base near the Pakistan border on the main Taliban transit route up into Helmand, the Prince has had no special treatment. There isn't room for anything like that in the confined and rudimentary living quarters of a wind-swept combat outpost. He has been 'mucking-in' with every other soldier, cooking his own rations, taking his turn making brews for himself and his mates, cleaning his rifle and equipment.

He has been receiving the respect due to any commissioned officer - though for junior lieutenants such as the Prince, that is usually dispensed sparingly! He will have ribbed his fellow-soldiers, and been ripped into himself in the often vicious but always vital humour that the Army survives on both in and out of barracks.

He will have developed bonds with his comrades of a nature that cannot be understood by those who have not been in battle, as his horizons narrowed from Queen and Country to the soldier to his left, the soldier to his right and the enemy to his front.

The Taliban has been relatively quiet in Southern Helmand so far this year, due to the relentless battering they sustained from 12 Mechanized Brigade last summer, and to their traditional reluctance to fight in the winter months.

But the forward operating bases have come under regular machine gun, sniper, rocket and mortar attack. With every soldier in his battle group, Prince Harry has also faced the daily threat of suicide attackers and roadside bombs when patrolling on foot or in vehicles, and machine gun and rocket fire when moving by helicopter.

His role as a JTAC - Joint Tactical Air Controller - is a critical one. He has been responsible for calling in the air strikes that give our troops the edge in Helmand. His task has been to direct bombing missions and strafing runs by fast jets from NATO air forces, including British, American and Canadian.

Working with the Gurkhas - an Infantry battle group - he is at the point of battle, fully engaged in combat operations, at close quarters with the enemy. This involves gruelling foot patrols, carrying sixty or seventy pounds of kit for many miles over rugged, dusty terrain and in extremes of heat and cold.

At any moment he must be prepared not just to call in the aircraft to strike at the enemy but also to open fire with his own rifle. In deploying to Afghanistan Prince Harry has put his life on the line, just like every other soldier. I for one salute his bravery, and the bravery of all of our fighting men and women in Afghanistan."

Good on him, a leader should lead from the front, and if he hopes to be king he should be able to lead a war his country is fighting, though I feel sorry for him, he will come to be king and find that there is no power in it, I think he is more ambitious than that, I only hope that as the King Of England he will man up and take some power that has been dissolved from his royal crown.


Though he probably won’t, the crown, he or she, is just a figure head, nothing more, though this Monarch still makes me proud to be English.

Eray.

He's got balls and is risking a lot. Say he were to die brittan would shit there self. HAHAHAHHAHAA funny stuff.