LONDON, Feb. 29, 2008
War Ain't No Disco For Prince Harry
Royal Says Military Duty In Afghanistan Is A Chance To Escape Tabloids
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Play CBS Video Video Prince Harry-Afghanistan Leak Princess Diana's former secretary Patrick Jephson speaks with Julie Chen about the leaking of Prince Harry's secret deployment to Afghanistan and how the royal family and public will react.
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Video Prince Harry's Tour Of Duty "CBS News RAW": Just before being pulled out of Afghanistan for security reasons, the media caught up with Prince Harry who gleefully talked about spending two months on duty.
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Video Prince Harry On The Frontlines Prince Harry, who wanted to be a normal soldier, finally got his wish. The Queen's grandson has spent the last ten weeks secretly fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. Mark Phillips reports.
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Prince Harry, shown here in his tent during his deployment in Afghanistan. (AP Graphics Bank)
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A long way from Helmand province: Britain's Prince Harry mingled with the stars during the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium in London, Sunday July 1, 2007. (AP Photo/Stephen Hird, Pool)
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Interactive There's Something About Harry The younger prince of England keeps getting into scrapes. Here's a look at his life.
The party-happy young prince has traded London's club circuit for an isolated and barren outpost as a soldier at war in Afghanistan's Helmand province, a hotbed of militant insurgency.
He says the best thing about his deployment has been an escape from the hungry paparazzi and headlines.
"The world could have changed," Harry said in an interview after his deployment in December. "To be honest with you, the one nice thing is not knowing what's in the paper, what kind of rubbish people are writing."
But his days of being out of the spotlight are numbered now.Photos: Prince Harry In Afghanistan
British military officials had hoped to keep the 23-year-old's deployment secret until he had returned safely. But following a leak on the Web site the Drudge Report, video and interviews recorded with the young royal in Afghanistan's restive Helmand Province and in Britain before his departure were released.
With his red hair coated in dust, the third in line to the British throne told reporters in footage taken before news of deployment leaked out that he was eating military rations and drinking nonalcoholic drinks. A luxury was standing on a square of carpet instead of sand, he said. One home comfort he missed: sitting on a sofa.
He said his older brother William wrote to tell him his late mother, Princess Diana, would have been proud.
"She would be looking down having a giggle about the stupid things that I've been doing, like going left when I should have gone right," he said.
Harry has made steady headlines over the years - wearing a Nazi uniform, cupping a blond television presenter's breast, cavorting with strippers and scuffling with photographers outside clubs. The 23-year-old apologized for the Nazi uniform - worn for a costume party - but has also acknowledged underage drinking and smoking marijuana in the past.
Contact with the opposite sex has also been minimal. No women are in Harry's Household Cavalry unit, although he has had some contact with female pilots during his Afghanistan deployment, military officials have said.
The army commander described Harry's performance on the battlefield as exemplary. "He has been fully involved in operations and has run the same risks as everyone else in his battle group," Gen. Richard Dannatt said.
Harry was supposed to be deployed to Iraq in May but plans were scrapped because of security risks.Story: Prince's Deployment Kept Secret By Media
He has been fighting the Taliban, calling in airstrikes near the war-ravaged village of Garmsir, about 100 miles west of the former Taliban capital of Kandahar, and doing some foot patrols.
"Just walking around, some of the locals or the ANP (Afghan National Police) they haven't got a clue who I am, they wouldn't know," Harry said, adding in Afghanistan he had a real chance to finally be seen as a normal person.
And the isolation has been a blessing in some ways, he's said.
"I think dressed in the same uniform as numerous other people, thousands of other people in Afghanistan will give me one of the best chances to be just a normal person: with a helmet on, with a shemagh (scarf) with goggles on, whatever," he said.
"As far as anybody else is concerned, they will just treat me as just a normal officer out there, hopefully. That will be massively important for me, it could be a turning point."
By Raphael G. Satter
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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- leave it to the media
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- I''m Sorry in advance, but what in the hell is the (irresponsible) media''s problem? Now I have to wonder if the blame of Di''s death can''t be placed on them. Just to get another stinkin'' story with the man in it, you risk his security as well as those who are serving alongside him...knowing that those A**H@LES over there are gunning for him!!!! I held back before with all of the ''pap''/media vs celebrity tiffs, but you are wrong for this one, dead wrong--!
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