Posted on 03/25/2010 5:05:20 PM PDT by naturalman1975
It was an experience his youngest son has already been through.
But yesterday the Prince of Wales was able to witness for himself the badlands of Afghanistan.
Pictures of Charles donning full combat gear while inspecting a machine gun at a British camp bore a striking resemblance to those taken of Prince Harry in similar poses two years earlier.
The key difference was that for Harry it was all for real.
Charles was paying an unprecedented and surprise fact-finding visit to the UK's frontline troops.
It is a trip the prince, the Commander in Chief of ten regiments, had wanted to make since the conflict began to see first hand the situation and to express his admiration and thanks to soldiers for their 'incredible efforts'.
The trip was made more poignant by the fact he was following in the footsteps of Harry, who spent ten weeks in Afghanistan serving with the Household Cavalry in 2008.
Charles admitted he knew from the time Harry spent there the anxieties faced by those with loved ones risking their lives.
'For the families, I know when my youngest son was out here, as a parent you worry the whole time,' he said. 'If you're out here, perhaps you're getting on with everything so it's not the same. But for everybody left behind it's ghastly.'
During his visit Charles took a trip over Helmand aboard a Chinook and received a briefing on the roadside bombs that have claimed so many British lives.
Hailing the troops fighting in Afghanistan, he said: 'Their mettle has been tested to the full and, as always, they have not been found wanting.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Maybe this will inspire that Indonesian fellow to vist American troops.
Only if Obama can use the troops as a propaganda tool...or a prop for one of his speeches. In his mind that’s all the military (and most other people) are good for. Otherwise, once he has used them, he discards them like dirty Kleenex.
He’s been in office a year. I don’t think he’s ever visited. Seems he’s stuck on himself.
LOL! He has to follow in his son’s footsteps! These are the actions of a future king? That speaks volumes to me.
I love the British people, their politicians are destroying the country.
Compare and contrast:
POW - served as a Royal Naval officer including command of a RN Minesweeper and qualification as a pilot
His brother Prince Andrew - Active service as a RN helicopter pilot in which he was a decoy for Exocet missiles in the Falklands.
His son Prince William - commissioned Army officer who has qualified as a helicopter pilot.
His son Prince Harry - commissioned Army officer who has seen active service in Afhanistan, pursing training as an Apache Attack Helicopter pilot
Barack Hussein Obama, POTUS: .....
Prince Charles served in his country’s military in the 1970s. He was never called upon to serve in a war, because his nation was at peace at the time, but he served.
He’s also visited British troops in warzones all over the world, many times throughout his life. The fact that a journalist chose to refer to his son’s service in Afghanistan in the way he did, is a choice for that writer that has little to do with reality.
You should also add in Prince Edward there - served as a Royal Marine officer. There’s a myth around that Edward was some sort of failure in the military - but he really wasn’t. He couldn’t qualify as a Commando - his service as a normal Marine officer was decent, and honourable, if unspectacular.
I always thought it a little odd that he chose RM, he never seemed their type. He would have done better in the RH mess, IMO.
Yes, he overextended himself. I think it was a combination of what the Royal Marines had recently achieved in the Falklands, and a desire to try and impress his father.
But I just get annoyed at how he’s presented sometimes - not everyone is cut out for Special Forces, and if we go around labelling everyone who tried to qualify in that area, but couldn’t, a failure, we’re being very unfair to a lot of people.
A few more:
The Duke of Edinburgh, served as a Royal Navy Officer, before during and after World War II.
The Queen was a mechanic in the Army’s women’s auxiliary during the war.
King George VI fought at Jutland, and was King during World War II.
His brother, the current Queen’s uncle, the Duke of Kent, was killed in World War II on a flight from the UK to Newfoundland.
Good points all.
There is much to be considered of a military career that is decent, honorable and ‘unspectacular’.
As much as we Yanks bust on the royal family, they do have a tradition of service. Unlike our “royals” like the Kennedys that seem to have a tradition of drunkeness.
Personally, I like Harry best of the bunch. I think he’d serve a whole term in the worst of conditions if they’d let him.
Maybe after he sucks the essence out of this Country. I could have said Countrymen but it wouldn’t have been believable to most.
I’ve got Scots Guard on my carpet here, oh wait, that’s Scotchguard.
I do like Charles, always have and this latest news only increases my regard for him. It’s hard to put a word on the sense he has of what is right and noble and good. It really seems to come naturally to him, to come from the heart. What a pity he can never be king.
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