he does really want to go.

Aw bless, you have to feel sorry for him; he is afflicted with the 'ginger blight' after all :lol:



I'd say the press is largely to blame here, poking their collective nose in where it doesn't belong as usual. Where was all the fuss with prince Andrew flying helicopters in the Falklands business? I know there was some comment, but certainly not on the scale we seems to be seeing here.
Trouble is most 'news' papers would report by the hour on fresh paint drying if they thought it would sell more papers. It's not newsworthy, it's just dross. Unfortunately the great unwashed lap it up, seemingly without satiation.

I'm not a fan of the Royal family myself, and tend to think the French and the Russians had the right idea on what to do with your Royals.

But having said that, I do think that Hewitt Junior did appear genuine in his desire to go, which is only natural when he has been through training and such with his buddies in a military unit. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that his unit would be specifically targeted by every crackpot with an RPG and an agenda, if deployed.

And so deploying that unit in such a situation would not be tactically very smart of the British Army. I daresay Harry's unit buddies are glad about that.

What this illustrates more than anything is the stupidity of the MOD and Royal family in allowing Harry to go down that route in the first place. If they had encouraged him to join the Navy or the Air Force, he could still have served, but would have been in a position to serve where his 'celebrity' would not endanger the mission, as it's kind of tricky to tell who's in a Panavia Tornado up at 36,000 feet, or who is in that Sea King Helicopter on ASW patrol.

Prince Andrew was able to serve in the Falklands War under just such circumstances, and despite rumours to the contrary, was not steered away from his fair share of the workload. Similarly, Harry's dad (yeah right), Prince Chuck the Bonkers, was also able to serve (on a RN Minesweeper if memory serves me right).

Then again, coming to expect logical decisions from those in power in the UK is like trying to plait fog.

BTW, if you do think that the Royal family are inbred, then referring to Prince Harry as Harry Hewitt is kind of watering down your argument, don't you think?

you make very good points Chock, I agree and think the Navy or RAF would have been a more sensible option.

Reason finally leading to the best outcome.

To put a whole unit at significantly raised risks without any additional advantages as compensation for that is simply silly, and from a military perspective makes no sense.

He should have gone completely anonymous and without anyone reporting about it (which would have needed a huge coverup-story to explain his absence) - or the whole issue never should have been pushed this far.

I've always thought it was practice to pull soldiers off duties if their presence would be deemed to attract disproportionate attacks on a unit. If there is a specific threat, then surely they have just followed proceedure.

Saying that, is there a specific threat?

Be careful there. You may have found what was said insulting, but stereotyping a whole nation is out of order as well

fighting fire with fire mate....incidentally! i went to Uni in Aber? how is it over there haha!

I wonder how many greiving parents and partners there are in the UK who wish they're sadly departed loved ones might have been given the same consideration prior to their final posting :hmm:

thats true Jim. My best friend rang me every day from Basra and his mum rang me everyday. I know what they go through and its not nice. I wouldn't want to be in Harry's unit though if he was coming with us.

Similar experience here Dan :yep:
I know one mum who had to send a descent pair of boots out to her son serving in Afghanistan :nope:

Considering that Prince Harry's unit specialisation is reconaissance, it does seem rather ironic that the commanders of his unit didn't spot this one coming.

The really stupid thing is...

Anyone who signs on the dotted line for military service, should be aware that bound within that decision to sign, is the possibility that they might lose their life. And, that they might very well find themselves sent somewhere to fight in a war of which they don't approve. Signing that form means you effectively forfeit your opinions on such matters and go where you are told, war being the pursuit of politics by other means. And those means generally involve some body bags coming back to the country. If such a notion is considered unacceptable now, how come it was acceptable some years ago when Harry was getting ready for basic training?

So much for military intelligence eh?

Makes you wonder if they had secretly been hoping that the black sheep of the family (from a parentage point of view) would go off somewhere and get himself killed.

[quote=DanCanovas]Inbred thing is true throughout the ages so no issue there. I dont appreciate them leeching £300,000,000 a year in tax payers money either. I support the worlds biggest benefit fraudsters via taxes so quite entitled to call them whatever the hell i want.

Proof of that is where? The carefully stage managed comments and "close friends" on the news ?

I think it is newsworthy and in the public interest. Tens of thousands of pounds of tax payers money has been wasted in training someone to do a job they've decided he is not capable of doing. The people have a right to know just how much of their money is being wasted where and by whom.

Chances are he's too thick to pass the standard selection for flight crew but a support role would still be able to give the illusion he's good for the country while keeping him out of harms way so it should have been done.

Falklands situation was slightly different in that the geneva convention and so on stood. Yes he could have been killed in action (as others were) BUT if captured i suspect he wouldn't have been in an orange jump suit having bits of limbs sawed off on camera. Propaganda coup maybe but i seriously doubt the Argentines would have gone as far as the latter. The americans and Guantanamo are mainly responsible for creating the latest batch of geneva convention breaking warefare but its here to stay. If Hewitt was captured in Iraq he'd have been on TV in dayglo clothing in hours.

Take a look at their lineage and then at their other suspected lineage. Plus the constant refusals for DNA tests. They highlight the classic problem of picking from a shallow gene pool - ugly, thick with all kinds of issues.