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Wills may take combat role
01/03/2008 14:33 - (SA)
London - Prince Harry has returned to Britain on Saturday after 10 weeks secretly working in Afghanistan as an ordinary soldier, sharing risk and hardship with his men.
He was met by his father, Prince Charles, and brother, Prince William, after he arrived on a troop transport plane at an airforce base in Oxfordshire, southern England.
Harry, third in line to the throne, was withdrawn from his deployment after the once closely guarded secret became public.
Still, Harry's hopes of a long-term military career should still be boosted by his time at war - and by the assessment of his commander, Brig Andrew Mackey, that the prince "acquitted himself with distinction."
Harry, 23, has spoken of his desire to be an ordinary soldier and sees the military as a career.
Rigours of officer training
In a 2006 interview, he said he would not have gone through the rigours of officer training at Sandhurst military academy only to "sit on my arse back home while my boys are out fighting for their country".
The defence ministry said on Saturday that Harry's elder brother, Prince William - second in line to the British throne - is also likely to serve overseas with the military, probably on board a Royal Navy battleship.
Officials said he could be deployed later this year on a tour to areas including the South Atlantic, the Persian Gulf, Pacific Ocean or the West Indies.
"It's our intention to give Prince William a full a taste of life in the Royal Navy as possible," a Navy spokesperson said, on customary condition of anonymity in line with policy.
Although Harry's deployment ended prematurely, military analysts said it would nonetheless help his army career by allowing him to hold his head high among his comrades.
"It will set him apart from the people who haven't been on active service," said Charles Heyman, author of guidebooks to the British military. "That's the most important thing for a soldier."
Agreement with major news organisations
The prince's deployment had gone undisclosed under an agreement between the Ministry of Defence and major news organisations designed to protect Harry and his fellow soldiers.
An Australian women's magazine reported on Harry's deployment last month, but that report received little attention.
When the news was posted on the Drudge Report website on Thursday, the dam burst.
The Ministry of Defence said on Friday that worldwide media coverage of Harry's posting could have risked his and his colleagues' safety had the prince been allowed to stay in Afghanistan.
It said Harry had been due to return "in a matter of weeks" before the news broke.
Media outlets were granted a series of interviews and allowed to take photos and video images of the prince, all to be distributed on a pool basis and used on his return.
That material was released after the story leaked out.
Society of Editors director Bob Satchwell, who helped broker the media deal, said the arrangement should not be looked at as precedent-setting.
"But on the other hand, you should never say never," he said.
"It worked for a significant time, and it allowed Prince Harry to be deployed."
Airstrikes
Harry's work in Afghanistan's volatile Helmand province involved calling in airstrikes on Taliban positions, as well as foot patrols.
He spent part of his deployment at a base 500 yards from Taliban positions.
Conditions were primitive and dangerous, but Harry said the posting offered him a rare sort of freedom.
"I think this is about as normal as I'm ever going to get," Harry said while serving at a dusty outpost called Forward Operating Base Delhi.
"It's bizarre," he reflected. "I'm out here now, haven't really had a shower for four days, haven't washed my clothes for a week and everything seems completely normal.
"It's nice just to be here with all the guys and just mucking in as one of the lads."
Harry joked in Afghanistan that he was a "bullet magnet," a prized target for insurgents.
A plan to send him to Iraq last year was cancelled after British intelligence learned of threats by militants to kill him.
The head of the army, Gen Richard Dannatt, said at the time that intense media coverage of the planned deployment had made the situation worse.
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