Harry by Katie Nicholl

Author:Katie Nicholl
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hachette Books
Published: 2018-03-20T04:00:00+00:00

After the summer Jubilee and Olympic celebrations, not to mention his time in Las Vegas, touching down in Camp Bastion on a cool September morning was a bit of a culture shock. Fortunately he had ten days to acclimatize in the desert before he began flying. Home was a giant tent, and Harry slept in a unit made from modified shipping containers, which he shared with another pilot.

While his last tour had been kept top secret, the Ministry of Defence made a public announcement ahead of Harry’s deployment. As an army pilot he was at less risk than he had been during his first tour, and as far as the ministry was concerned, he was not putting the lives of British forces in any danger. Harry was to spend the next four months as a copilot gunner with the one-hundred-strong 662 Squadron, 3 Regiment Army Air Corps. The decision to deploy him had been taken in consultation with Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir David Richards, with Prime Minister David Cameron having the final power of veto. “He is very proud to be given the opportunity to serve his country in the job for which he has been trained,” said a spokesperson at St. James’s Palace. “He will be treated exactly the same as any other pilot while he is there.” The ministry said that a threat assessment had been undertaken before Harry’s deployment to ensure he would not put the lives of others at risk. The base was shared with US, Estonian, Danish, and Afghan troops, and as a precaution, Afghan troops weren’t allowed near the prince.

The problem at Camp Bastion, a dusty city of Portakabins and tents located northwest of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand where Harry was based, was that he wasn’t like every other pilot. The base was huge, and Harry was recognized everywhere he went. “I think Harry felt under a lot more scrutiny at Camp Bastion,” recalls Press Association photographer John Stillwell, who was assigned to photograph Harry in theater. As had happened for his last deployment, Harry had agreed to give the media photographs and interviews about the tour that would be released once he was safely back home. It was very different to the first tour; he was surrounded by thousands of people and he was very careful to keep a low profile. He just wanted to do his job, and he stuck with his fellow Apache fliers; he didn’t mix with the other boys much. When it came to mealtimes, he’d always go at the end of the sitting with his crew. He’d deliberately sit in the corner so he could enjoy his meal in peace.

While he hated being gawped at, he was thrilled to be back on the front line. It was an opportunity to show what he was really made of. Having been awarded the prize for best gunner, Harry was known as the “top gun” among the twenty other copilots in his class. His responsibilities varied,

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