Posted on 01/17/2014 2:29:18 PM PST by naturalman1975
Prince Harry has quit his job as an Apache helicopter pilot to take a desk job organising ceremonial events in London.
The fourth in line to the throne, who has twice served on the frontline in Afghanistan, will take up a staff officer role in HQ London District, based from Horse Guards, helping to co-ordinate ‘significant projects and commemorative events involving the Army in London.’
He will continue to be known as Captain Wales and remains a Commissioned Officer in the Household Cavalry.
The move will allow him to take on more royal duties on behalf of his ageing grandmother, the Queen, 87, who has long signalled she wishes younger members of her family to take the strain.
.....
Asked about his sudden change of career, a senior source said: ‘Prince Harry wants a career in the military and it is not unusual for an officer to change his career path after this length of time. He has achieved an awful lot in the time he has been doing the job. It is not unusual for an officer of his rank to leave and take up something elsewhere.
‘The fact is that he has to gain experience in other field in order to move up the ranks and this is an opportunity for him to do so.’
.....
Officers who want to progress their careers will at some point need to complement their operational experience with a managerial desk job in the UK.
If Harry wants to reach the rank of major a period broadening his military skills will help him achieve his goal - and he could return to fighting on the front line at a later date.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I like this guy. Best of luck to him.
Hope he gets married soon. He seems to love kids and would likely make a good father.
It’s the right time for this. Neither Harry or his brother have anything left to prove militarily. They both served the interests of their country well. I’m surprised he lasted this long in that capacity of service without something really bad happening, like a kidnapping or worse.
Prince Harry wasn’t at the controls of an Apache very long. The UK probably didn’t get their money’s worth out of all that expensive training — but that’s their business. Commissioned officers rotate between combat leadership & staff jobs all the time and their army isn’t much different from ours in that regard.
He and his brother seem pretty genuine. Diana would be proud.
Things are well and truly winding down in Afghanistan for the British, and part of this is they will want to give as many Apache pilots as they can their chance to serve in combat - both because it’s what they train for and want to do, and also because it’s experience you just can’t replicate anywhere else. So there will have been a lot of short rotations in recent times. Yes, in a sense it wastes money - but it also increases capability, by giving you more people who really understand what the job is about.
Along with the thousands of others they've served alongside - I think they'd want that pointed out. They get the military attention because of who they are, but they are both happiest when they are just two men among the thousands in uniform.
Two tours in Afghanistan and he has had enough. I don’t blame him
Yeah, and flying skills are perishable, too. In a few months Harry won’t be allowed near an Apache without a check-ride... minimum. (They probably do that on simulators, I suppose).
Harry want’s to serve his country. Give him credit. But his CO is probably deathly afraid of what might happen every time he goes outside the wire. But they’ve weighed that against the Royals’ wishes to be seen pulling their weight. I’m sure it’s a good recruiting tool up to a point.
Harry should mount a coup and claim the crown.
My nephew flew Apache Longbows, was an instructor in Germany, then did a tour in Afghanistan. When he reached the rank of Captain, they didn’t LET him fly anymore. When he found he’d have to be flying a desk with his ‘promotion’, he left that group and joined Special Forces, then did another tour in Iraq.
A lot of helicopter pilots are warrant officers. I work with a guy who maintained helicopters during Vietnam and he said that back then all the attack helo’s were piloted by COMMISSIONED officers. What was your nephew’s experience? Was he flying with fellow commissioned officers, or did he have a lot of warrants around him?
It is. And it's also part of the reason why the Royal family is generally so beloved in the UK, and among a lot of the Commonwealth. Because they are seen as doing their duty. And there is political calculation involved in this and nobody seriously pretends otherwise.
Whatever people may think of the idea of Royalty, British constitutional government relies on its existence, and none of those born into the family were asked whether they wanted to be. They are given a position of undeserved but immense privilege - and the only way that remains tolerable to a lot of people is if they are also seen to be doing their duty to their country.
His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales has more than delivered on that at this point. His brother hasn't done badly either, but Harry is the star in this regard. And if, as seems likely, he intends to continue to serve in the military alongside his royal duties, that's a bonus.
If you’re trying to insinuate that Harry was just a poseur — you’re way off base.
As for the cost — trivial compared to the value of the morale boost he’s given to the military.
There's no way he wants that job. If it fell to him (and he has to always be aware that it could), he'd do it as his duty, but I think Harry is incredibly relieved to have his older brother and his nephew between him and that responsibility.
———Diana would be proud.——
Probably not. They have become bonefide Royals and she never measured up to that job.
It’s a religion for some. He could dress as a NAZI and have a cocaine and hooker party in Vegas and they would still see him as an angel.
Didn’t he do something like that in Las Vegas?
Largely true, yes. But in the modern world, because of the pressures of history, within the Commonwealth of Nations, they've found themselves with a ceremonial and symbolic role that is important to a lot of people. All nations have their symbols - and healthy nations take pride in them.
They also have an important constitutional role to play as a brake on potential tyranny by elected officials. The reserve powers of the Crown are a guarantor of hard won liberties and freedoms. It hasn't always been that way - but it is now and you don't throw that away. You cherish it, if you're lucky enough to have it.
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