Harry in Afghanistan
When a close friend once told me that it was his intention to join the army I was genuinely taken aback. While I have the greatest respect for people willing to put themselves in the line of fire I see absolutely no reason to put myself (and by extension people I care about) In front of the open end of a gun with someone willing to kill me clutching the trigger.
So it was with mixed feelings that I read the news that Prince Harry has been serving in Afghanistan for the past 10 weeks.While I have few feelings for the Royal Family I did have to congratulate the young prince for doing it and yet at the same time I questioned why he had been sent there at all. Harry with the gratest will in the world is not the best person to have serving next to you. While I’m amazed that the news blackout at this end lasted so long I find it impossible to believe that no rumours were circulating in the vicinity of the area he was deployed in. This begs the question was this a stupid risk? After all Prince Harry was pulled from an Iraq deployment for this very reason.
After considering this I believe that the decisions taken were poor. Not those made by Harry himself but those made by the people sending him there. The reporting of his presence has brought renewed attention to the troops in The Region and has arguably set back the campaign against The Taliban. While Harry cannot be thrown out of the army for this kind of reason the decision should have been made to keep him away from the frontline.
