Prince Harry returns home--gives interview

Prince Harry returned home today and was met at the airport by his father and brother. Afterwards he gave an interview to the BBC. Here is a transcript of that article.

Interviewer: We weren’t expecting to be seeing you back so soon. Are you angry?

Harry: Um, I don’t know if angry is the right word to say. It’s definitely different surroundings from our last chat. Um, but, I didn’t see it coming. It’s a shame. As I said earlier angry would be the wrong word to use but I am slightly disappointed. I thought I could see it through to the end and come back with our guys and the Colonel himself. But, yeah, I’m back here now and I suppose deep down inside I’m looking forward to having a bath. So I think once I’ve had a bath I’ll think it’s nice to be back early. But, no. I’d like to still be over with the other guys.

Interviewer: You haven’t always had the best experiences of the press. Were you surprised by the restraint by most of the media in this case?

Harry: Uhhh [laughs] I was surprised--I was surprised by the way the British media kept to their side of the bargain. I hate to say it but I am very grateful for that and thank you to all the British media for keeping to their mouths shut and I know for a fact there was stuff they did behind the scenes to stop stuff from coming out which was massively kind of them. But at the same time it doesn’t surprise me that it comes down to media—foreign media—that’s once again spilled the beans. So yeah, it’s a shame but it’s to be expected I guess.

Interviewer: And what do you think of those who broke the embargo.

Harry: I don’t know much about it and I don’t really want to know much about it. When I first heard about it I was on stag listening to the radio and people were talking about me in code words and then I gathered that it was actually about me after a short time. But yeah, whatever’s happened, happened. And as I said it doesn’t surprise me there’s always someone out there who’s willing to ruin the party but, yeah, job’s done.

Interviewer: What was it like saying goodbye to the guys you were with?

Harry: Um, you know, it wasn’t great, as it is for any person who gets pulled early for whatever reason. Whether it’s compassionate case and the guys out of combat. There’s a lot of guys that—they get pulled for compassionate and they want to get back home and make sure that things are alright but at the same time once you, sort of, leave the Zone then you—you’re gonna miss all the guys. You find yourself mucking in and being great mates with the most bizarre people. Not the most bizarre people—everyone. It’s not as though you turn around and go, “Oh, I want to stay away from him because he’s a nine.” There’s no one like that out there. You’re all sort of one-on-one. All in the same position. But, yeah, they were all pretty gutted, actually. And the guys that you all met and the guys that fed you for however long it was—five days to a week—um, I managed to Troop Lead them for a bit so as far as I’m concerned mission successful. ‘Cause that was, at the end of the day, the main crux of it was to lead a troop. And they were gutted, they we’re just like, you know, “This is ridiculous,” but once again, typical that this has come around and that it’s ended the way it is.

Interviewer: We’ve heard stories that they put you up on their shoulders and danced around and—

Harry: I don’t know where you got that story from unless we were being watched by satellite. No, there was nothing like that. It was literally just, no one knew about it and I went up and said, about and hour before I left, I said, “Look, I’m off.” And they thought, “Lucky you, where are you going, where are you going? Are you going back down to [indistinguishable]” And was like, “No, England.” “Why?” And then it sort of—eventually it clicked. But, yeah, I mean, they’re upset, they were sort of pretty depressed for me and they were just a bit like, “It’d be nice to keep you here.” But I got replaced by another JTAG so as far as they’re concerned they got air cover so that’s all they really care about. I’m sure they’re not gonna miss me.

Interviewer: Those you have met what are those guys like? How would you describe them?

Harry: Um, [laughs] this might be sort of a cliché but I’d say Dessert Rats but that’s clearly not going to work. Um, no, just a really great bunch of lads. It would have been nice to have been out there for long because I think the opportunity to go around and see different regiments in different areas would have popped it’s head up. And being with the Gurkhas and being with my own guys was something that I never really saw happening that much just because from a, sort of, danger perspective I thought there was going to be someone up high in the top of the army whose always going to go “No, no, no, no, no,” which was basically what they were trying to do. Colonel Ed managed to persuade them otherwise and it was fantastic. But, you know, it’s a different squadron. Seeing that a part of A Squadron to actually be with C Squadron, who I’ve had competition against numerous times with being Troop Leader, um, it was different. But a really good bunch of guys and, as I say, once you’re out in the middle of the dessert and all you depend on is one another to look out for each other then it comes down to the fact that you’re mates and all ranks aside you are mates and you look out for each other.

Interviewer: You really seem to be out in your element out there. Would you say it was one of the happiest times of your life?

Harry: Yeah, probably. It was fantastic. It was an opportunity that I was wanting to do the whole time and to be able to do it—I was hugely grateful for having that opportunity. I did enjoy it a little bit more then I suppose was supposed to—should. Not in a sick way. But, um, no I enjoyed being out there. I suppose every element of it was—had something different about it. But actually being out in the middle of nowhere, with the stars out—as you guys experienced as well just for a short amount of time—it was just a fantastic place to be. And sometimes you actually forget, as I remember watching the Panorama documentary before I came out, when the Company Commander saying it’s very hard because sometimes you actually think you’re not in a war zone. It’s hard to actually bring yourself back to reality and say, No, I am, I could actually get shot at any point” because the area itself is so nice. Two mornings before I left was the first morning I heard birds singing as well which was a bit—yeah and in the dessert so, no, it’s a nice place to be.

Interviewer: Presumably you haven’t seen the papers but you’re a bit of a national hero, if that’s the proper way of putting it, but how would you sum up what you have achieved?

Harry: I did see the papers; quite a large pile of them strapped to my seat before I got onto the plane by people who thought it was really amusing to throw photos—exactly. Um, I wouldn’t say I’m the hero at all. I’m no more a hero then anyone else. Everyone—if you think about it—there’s thousands and thousands of troops out there and as I keep saying over and over again, it’s very nice for all the press to come here and do this but hopefully in the long run it’s going to bring more of a—what’s the word? More attention towards what the guys are doing in Afghanistan. What an amazing job everyone is doing. Not just England or Britain but America—I’m not going to list them because I’ll forget, I’ll leave someone out. But, every single nation that’s part of it—and all the guys are doing an amazing job out there. So no I wouldn’t say I’m a hero. There’s guys who—two injured guys who came back on the plane with us who were essentially comatose throughout the whole way. One who’d lost two limbs; a left arm and a right leg and another guy who was basically saved by his mate’s body being in the way and took shrapnel to the neck. Both out cold throughout the whole of the flight. And, you know, those are the heroes. Those are the guys who’ve been burnt up by a mine that they had no idea about. Serving their country doing their normal patrol, doing what they know is best. But thanks to the skills and the professionalism of the medic team and all the medics that go from stage one, all the way back to the medics to check them out here at Birmingham and hand them over, and hand them over. Everyone—that whole string I’d say are the heroes. Keeping people in one piece and essentially saving lives.

Interviewer: What did you think when you saw those guys on the plane?

Harry: I was a bit shocked. Just because—I don’t know, it’s a bit of a [gestures to heart] choke in your throat because you know it’s happening. There’s a lot of time when you’re actually in theater when it’s not really mentioned that much and you just hear about it when there’s a minimize or something like that. You know that something’s happened somewhere. And to actually be on the plane and sort of wait for, whatever it was, one and a half—two hours at caf for them to be loaded on. And it wasn’t as though everyone thought. “Urgh, I want to get home.” It was completely understandable. They had casualties to put on there. I’m not entirely sure how many there where but, there were two guys who were essentially critical. And, you know, it was hard. Because there was a time when you wanted to talk to them and find out how they were because the typical English—British solider would just turn around and say, “Eh, I’m fine, I’m fine. I lost my arm, I didn’t like that arm anyway.” Or something like that. And the guy who took the shrapnel in the neck and, you know, apparently when he was really choking on the blood, just grabbed a piece of shrapnel and said, “Put that in the pot, I want a souvenir.” You know, that’s just the way it is. And the bravery of the guys that are out there it’s just stunning. It’s amazing. And there was a lot of people in a worse situation then me, that’s for sure. And all the infantry out there, the guys who need recognition.

Interviewer: When we were out there we saw you firing a weapon. We even saw you dropping bombs. What goes through your mind when you have to do something like that?

Harry: Well, I mean, you know, its—[laughs] war. It’s Hell. Ah, but no, I don’t know, you just do what you have to do. What's necessary to save your own guys. If you need to drop a bomb, worse case scenario, then you will. But that’s just the way it is. That’s the way things go. It’s not nice to drop bombs and get that position or give that position to have to do. But it’s, as I say, to save lives and that’s what happens.

Interviewer: You were involved just over a week ago in quite a major operation. Can you tell us a little about that?

Harry: Essentially there was an enemy OP that we knew about at the base of a hill that were firing rockets at us continually throughout the three of four days. And the Americans had information to suggest that they were spread across in compounds. So we cleared though those compounds with the Americans--helping them out. Trying to work with them as best we could. Obviously they were a little bit more switched on then the C Squadron of HCR just in our little mini tanks, which they kept taking the piss out of. Um, and swept through, found a huge enemy OP and sort of Command Center with a 20ft FH antenna and a VFH antenna which both are used not only for long distance communication but to remote control—detonate IEDs from a greater distance.

Interviewer: What was the conversation you had with your father and brother when you arrived here?

Harry: The conversation was, “Hello, how are you? There’s food.” “Thank you very much.” Whang. Straight into it. Then sat down in a chair, which, come to think about it this one is very comfortable as well. Um, no. It was just very nice to see them. And as I said, shame that it wasn’t in the circumstances I wanted it to be in. But, you know, you can’t be upset about being home even if it is winter or England or etcetera, etcetera. But, yeah, just a normal parent to son, brother-to-brother sort of conversation. “Welcome back. How was it?”

Interviewer: Are you concerned your fighting days may now be over? Having served one term--

Harry: Well, I think we have an army back in England. I might not have anyone to fight here. But I think the, I don’t know. I hope not. I hope that this is—now it’s been proven the system can work if the British press go along with a deal and everything in place has been proved that it can actually work. So I don’t see why it can’t work again. Hopefully for my brother as well. It’s possible that it could work. We just have to wait and see for the future. I’m sure there are a lot of people thinking, “Well, you’ve done it once why would you ever want to go back again?” Well, as you know, as you spoke to a lot of the other guys who came off the plane with me, there will be plenty of people waiting to go back again to serve their country and do their bit. Because at the end of the day if you’re not there and someone from your regiment or mate of yours—if something were to happen to them I suppose you’d feel indirectly guilty because of the fact that—your not necessary that you shouldn’t be there; you’ve done your bit. But, if you want to go back and help and do the thing that you should then so be it. People should be allowed to.

Interviewer: You said though that you don’t want to hang around in Windsor, as you put it. Would you be thinking about an alternative route if the possibility of going back to active operations wasn’t a possibility?

Harry: I think I’d—at the moment as far as I see it, I’m gonna wait for the Cornell to get back and sit down and talk to him and find out what the options are. What he’s offering me as a Troop Leader, as an FAC. And to see how things go between now and whenever the C Squadron get back with the 16 brigade. But as far as I see it, yeah, I’d love to go back out and I’ve already mentioned it. Because as I said in the interview ages ago, being FAC you are an asset. There’s all sorts of possibilities that will arise. But I don’t intend on leaving the army. But as you asked--as you say to everybody or as everybody would say to you if you asked them, once you’re back from operations everything is a bit of an anticlimax. As in, you go back to your unit and, well, there you are. Day in, day out, the same routine nothing changes and that’s the way it is. When at least on operations you’re kept on your toes the whole time. And that’s what guys join up for I guess. It’s that sort of adrenaline.

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