Prince Harry returned to Britain after his second deployment to war-torn Afghanistan acknowledging the fact that he killed Taliban insurgents as a gunner in Apache attack helicopters. The number of how many insurgents Harry might have killed is unknown, but the Prince of Wales said it was sometimes justified to “take a life to save a life.”
“Our job out here is to make sure the guys are safe on the ground and if that means shooting someone who is shooting at them, then we will do it,” Harry said.
The Taliban said that it would do its utmost to kidnap or kill the prince, who called him a drunken “jackal” out to kill innocent Afghans. Prince Harry was known in the military as Captain Harry Wales and was deployed shortly after he was photographed naked after losing a game in strip billiards. His job as Apache co-pilot was to man its weapon system when his unit flew sorties to back up troops fighting on the ground.
Harry said killing was not the reason he became a gunner.
“It’s not the reason I decided to do this job. The reason was to get back out here,” he said.
The prince, who is third in line for the throne, prior served as a combat soldier in Helmand for 10 weeks between 2007 and 2008.