Ready to serve. Prince Harry has remained dedicated to the military following his retirement from the British Royal Army in 2015.
The Duke of Sussex is one of many members of the British royal family to serve their country throughout history. Harry was part of the armed forces for 10 years, while his older brother, Prince William, completed seven and half years. Their father, Prince Charles, was part of the Royal Air Force, while their grandfather Prince Philip served in the Royal Navy for nearly 14 years.
Harry’s service began in 2005, and one year later, he was supposed to go to Iraq to fight alongside his Blues and Royals comrades. However, the assignment was switched once news broke that the prince would be on the front lines — causing concern for his safety and that of his fellow brothers in arms.
“If they said, ‘No, you can’t go front line,’ then I wouldn’t drag my sorry arse through Sandhurst and I wouldn’t be where I am now,” Harry said during a TV interview in 2005 of his desire to be treated like any other soldier. “The last thing I want to do is have my soldiers away to Iraq or wherever like that and for me to be held back home.”
The youngest son of Charles and the late Princess Diana eventually went to battle in Afghanistan, making him the first royal since Prince Andrew to serve in a combat zone. Harry has spoken about his time in the military on many occasions, explaining how he felt like a regular guy when he was in uniform.
“My father’s always trying to remind me about who I am and stuff like that. But it’s very easy to forget about who I am when I am in the army,” Harry told the Guardian after his second tour in January 2013. “Everyone’s wearing the same uniform and doing the same kind of thing. I get on well with the lads and I enjoy my job. It really is as simple as that.”
The army captain later explained the horrors he’d seen at war, revealing how a decade of service had affected him.
“On my first tour to Afghanistan in 2007-8 and again more so on my second tour in 2012-13, I saw some horrendous things: the tragic injuries and deaths of local people from roadside bombs, some of whom were children; coalition forces lying on the battlefield; and the constant ferrying of injured personnel to the hospital in Camp Bastion,” he wrote in a letter published in The Times in August 2014. “Radioing in the details of their injury to the hospital (which sometimes included the phrase ‘Op vampire,’ when the casualty would need a lot of blood — it still sends shivers down my spine).”
Harry, who founded the Invictus Games as a bright spot for former soldiers before leaving the military, continued, “Or lying in bed late at night while our accommodation shook from the downforce of the Chinook and Black Hawk helicopters, was a constant reminder of what was happening all around. See it, smell it, hear it, feel it, there was no escaping it.”
Scroll down to relive Harry’s highs and lows during his military career:
Harry passed the Regular Commissions Board (RCB) qualification in September, allowing him to begin his 44-weeks of officer cadet training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Balkanpix.Com/Shutterstock
Clarence House announced in January that the prince was joining the Blues and Royals. Three months later, he was commissioned as an Army officer. Shutterstock
Harry was deployed to Afghanistan, working as a forward air controller. He spent 10 weeks there before the media learned of his location and reported his role in the mission in February 2008. Shutterstock
Queen Elizabeth II’s grandson finished his training as a pilot of Apache helicopters in the Army Air Corps before his second deployment. Shutterstock
Harry returned to Afghanistan as a helicopter copilot and gunner until 2013. Shutterstock
He founded the Invictus Games, featuring Paralympic-style events for injured service members, after returning home. The first tournament took place in September in London. They have since been played in Orlando in 2016, Toronto in 2017 and Sydney in 2018. The Hague, Netherlands, will host the event in 2022 and Dusseldorf, Germany, is slated to take on the 2023 games. Tim Rooke/Shutterstock
Harry’s military career ended in June after 10 years of service. He was a Captain when he retired. Jonathan Hordle/Shutterstock
The Duke of Sussex was promoted to Captain General Royal Marines in December, a role that was previously held by his late grandfather. Shutterstock
Harry received three more promotions — Major in the British Army, Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy and Squadron Leader in the Royal Air Force — in June. The honorary Navy and RAF ranks were later pulled after he stepped back as a senior royal in 2020. Tim Rooke/Shutterstock
The royal put on a Santa suit to speak with bereaved military children in December. "You are part of an amazing community and there is support for you, every single day, should you need it," he said in a video for the Scotty’s Little Soldier’s charity. "Having met some of a few years ago, I know how incredibly strong you are. Yes, losing a parent is incredibly hard, but I know that every single one of you, by helping each other out, will have an amazing future ahead of you and you're going to be having a fantastic Christmas, as well." YouTube
One year after stepping back from his senior royal duties alongside wife Meghan Markle, it was announced in February that Harry would return his military appointments to the queen. He returned the titles of Captain General Royal Marines, Honorary Air Commandant, RAF Honington and Commodore-in-Chief, Small Ships and Diving, Royal Naval Command because he would no longer be a working royal. Victoria Jones/AP/Shutterstock
Harry and Meghan addressed news of the Taliban taking hold in Afghanistan in August, calling for former military members to reach out and support one another amid the crisis. "What's happening in Afghanistan resonates across the international Invictus community," the statement issued alongside Invictus Games CEO Dominic Reid read. "Many of the participating nations and competitors in the Invictus Games family are bound by a shared experience of serving in Afghanistan over the past two decades, and for several years, we have competed alongside Invictus Games Team Afghanistan. We encourage everybody across the Invictus network — and the wider military community — to reach out to each other and offer support for one another.” The couple also shared a message of hope via their Archewell Foundation website. "The world is exceptionally fragile right now. As we all feel the many layers of pain due to the situation in Afghanistan, we are left speechless. As we all watch the growing humanitarian disaster in Haiti, and the threat of it worsening after last weekend's earthquake, we are left heartbroken,” they wrote. “And as we all witness the continuing global health crisis, exacerbated by new variants and constant misinformation, we are left scared." The statement continued: "When any person or community suffers, a piece of each of us does so with them, whether we realize it or not. And though we are not meant to live in a state of suffering, we, as a people, are being conditioned to accept it. It's easy to find ourselves feeling powerless, but we can put our values into action — together." Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times/Shutterstock
Following a two-year delay amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Invictus Games returned in April with a week-long schedule of events in the Netherlands. Harry and his wife were spotted at the welcome reception at The Hague before attending the opening day ceremony. SEM VAN DER WAL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
from Celebrity News – Us Weekly https://ift.tt/4JtIh7Z
Comments
Post a Comment