carebear
Member
... may not be in as bad a shape as feared.
According to Parade magazine this weekend (I know, I know) Bonny Prince Harry of Wales, or, more properly, Cornet Wales, threatened to turn in his uniform and resign his Commission if not allowed to go to Iraq and fight with his Regiment.
I wonder who'll write the story of this Henry of Wales?
Prince Harry to begin training for Iraq
May 12, 2006 19:36 IST
Prince Harry, the third in line to the British throne, will begin his training in May to prepare him for deployment in Iraq in October 2006.
Beginning on May 22, the newly-commissioned officer will take the troop commander's course for the next five months in Dorset and get "up to his elbows in engine grease" while sharing a cramped and sometimes noxious tank with two others, the Daily Telegraph reported on Friday.
The decision on how to use the prince, who has expressed a strong desire to fight alongside his men on operations, will be made by his commanding officer at Windsor Lt Col Ed Smyth-Osbourne.
"He is third in line to the throne and that brings with it certain implications. But Prince Harry is a troop commander and he has a job to do," Col Jamie Martin, the chief of staff at the Armour Centre, told the newspaper.
"Here he will be treated like any other officer and he will be addressed by me by his Christian name and by others as Cornet Wales," he said.
Cornet is a rank unique to the Blues and Royals and is used to address a second lieutenant. "It will be a physically and mentally challenging course, but one that will prepare him well for the future," the officer said.
Prince Harry will learn "the skills of a poacher" using his armoured reconnaissance vehicle and its surveillance equipment to be the eyes and ears of his commanders.
The eight-ton Scimitar, with a 30mm cannon and powered by a 4.2 litre Jaguar engine has been used extensively in Iraq for long-range patrols and will provide mobile armour for the lightly-armed troops in Helmand province in Afghanistan.
On the course the prince will learn driving and maintenance, signalling, gunnery and armoured tactics. When he goes to Windsor he will command a troop of 11 men including a "hugely experienced and wise" sergeant, two corporals and eight other soldiers.
Col Martin ended his briefing at Bovington by quoting a Second World War tank commander just after an engagement with the enemy. The anonymous officer said: "The 75mm is firing but the 37mm is firing traverse round the wrong way. The Browning has jammed. I am saying 'driver advance' on the radio set and the driver, who cannot hear me, is reversing and as I look out of the top of the turret and see 12 enemy tanks 50 yards away someone hands me a cheese sandwich."
Prince Harry should be prepared for things to be as chaotic, Col Martin added.
According to Parade magazine this weekend (I know, I know) Bonny Prince Harry of Wales, or, more properly, Cornet Wales, threatened to turn in his uniform and resign his Commission if not allowed to go to Iraq and fight with his Regiment.
I wonder who'll write the story of this Henry of Wales?
Prince Harry to begin training for Iraq
May 12, 2006 19:36 IST
Prince Harry, the third in line to the British throne, will begin his training in May to prepare him for deployment in Iraq in October 2006.
Beginning on May 22, the newly-commissioned officer will take the troop commander's course for the next five months in Dorset and get "up to his elbows in engine grease" while sharing a cramped and sometimes noxious tank with two others, the Daily Telegraph reported on Friday.
The decision on how to use the prince, who has expressed a strong desire to fight alongside his men on operations, will be made by his commanding officer at Windsor Lt Col Ed Smyth-Osbourne.
"He is third in line to the throne and that brings with it certain implications. But Prince Harry is a troop commander and he has a job to do," Col Jamie Martin, the chief of staff at the Armour Centre, told the newspaper.
"Here he will be treated like any other officer and he will be addressed by me by his Christian name and by others as Cornet Wales," he said.
Cornet is a rank unique to the Blues and Royals and is used to address a second lieutenant. "It will be a physically and mentally challenging course, but one that will prepare him well for the future," the officer said.
Prince Harry will learn "the skills of a poacher" using his armoured reconnaissance vehicle and its surveillance equipment to be the eyes and ears of his commanders.
The eight-ton Scimitar, with a 30mm cannon and powered by a 4.2 litre Jaguar engine has been used extensively in Iraq for long-range patrols and will provide mobile armour for the lightly-armed troops in Helmand province in Afghanistan.
On the course the prince will learn driving and maintenance, signalling, gunnery and armoured tactics. When he goes to Windsor he will command a troop of 11 men including a "hugely experienced and wise" sergeant, two corporals and eight other soldiers.
Col Martin ended his briefing at Bovington by quoting a Second World War tank commander just after an engagement with the enemy. The anonymous officer said: "The 75mm is firing but the 37mm is firing traverse round the wrong way. The Browning has jammed. I am saying 'driver advance' on the radio set and the driver, who cannot hear me, is reversing and as I look out of the top of the turret and see 12 enemy tanks 50 yards away someone hands me a cheese sandwich."
Prince Harry should be prepared for things to be as chaotic, Col Martin added.
