In Spare, Prince Harry devoted a big chunk of the memoir to his military service, especially his second tour in Afghanistan. By his second tour, he had been trained as an Apache pilot. Harry frames his tours of duty through a mental health perspective, as he discusses how he was trained not to think about the human element or the political element, the fact that he’s taken human life as part of his job and whether these were politically justifiable kills. In Spare, he wrote his “number” – the number of people he killed – and he did so in a thoughtful way, in the context of the larger conversation of mental health and the military. When promoting Spare, he told Stephen Colbert that he revealed his number simply to encourage veterans to talk to their families and get help, and that he wanted to prevent veteran suicides. The British media – and even the British Defense Secretary – have all done the most to make it sound like Harry was “bragging” about his kills. He was not. They’re just a–holes. Speaking of, Harry’s Apache trainer Steve Jones has written a book called Apache at War: Flying the World’s Deadliest Attack Helicopter in Combat. The Telegraph interviewed him specifically so he could bad-mouth Harry.
Jones’s book includes stories about Harry: They include his time training the most famous British Apache pilot, Prince Harry. After going to Afghanistan as an infantryman in 2008, the Duke trained as a pilot and returned as an Apache gunner in 2012, when he was 27. “I remember the first time [Harry and I] met, in a briefing, it felt like he was briefing me,” Jones says, speaking over Zoom from his home in Aberdeenshire, where these days he flies commercial helicopters in the oil industry. “I was distracted, thinking ‘this is the third-in-line to the throne’. Then I thought ‘actually, he’s just another student. He doesn’t get any favours from me. If anything, he’s going to have to try harder.’
Harry worked hard & played hard: “I’ve had people say he only passed because of who he is. Nothing could be further from the truth. He definitely played hard, but he would work hard as well. He was a good student, but he tried to be a bit of a joker a few times and you’d have to slap him back down.”
Jones thinks Harry enjoyed his time in the military: “I think when Harry was around the military he could relax a bit. There was no fear of someone taking photos and telling the press what he was doing. He was relaxed enough to have a chat. He wouldn’t open up to me because I was the instructor, the sergeant major, and he was him, but we had mutual respect. He tended to concentrate on the smaller things, sometimes to the detriment of the bigger picture.He would try and be very picky and accurate. The whole world might be burning down behind him, but as long as he could get 35 knots [he would be happy]. It was about trying to get him out, start to relax, look at the periphery, see what’s going on and start to take in the wider picture. In an Apache you have to be three steps ahead. He was good at the finer detail but at times he was perhaps too narrow-minded and focused. But in the end he did really well.”
Jones on Harry “abandoning his duties” lol: Jones is more circumspect when it comes to the Duke of Sussex’s trajectory since he left the Army, abandoning his Royal duties, which included his military roles. “I do feel disappointed,” he says. “I feel gutted he’s not at the head of the military as he used to be. I’m grateful to have met him and flown with him. I think he has done his bit for his country. We can never take that away from him. He’s done an Apache course. He’ll always be one of us.”
On Harry writing about his kills: Despite that, Jones says he was disappointed by Harry’s detailing in Spare that he had killed 25 Taliban fighters. “It’s not what we’re about,” says Jones, of the Duke’s putting a number on his kill count. “We’re not here to say, ‘I did this, I did that.’ It’s not a game. These are real people. They’ve got families. I wouldn’t have made any comment. I get a very uneasy feeling for anybody who says ‘I killed 10.’ It’s not what should be said, at all. But [Harry] did have a successful tour. It’s a shame he didn’t hang around to do more but I guess he ticked that box and scratched that itch and moved on. I would say he’s stepped backwards in a way, from the way he was to [how he is] now.”
I guess Steve Jones needs the money and he decided to not only write about training Harry, but promote the book using Harry’s name. The Telegraph’s whole piece with Jones was about Harry and Jones’s thoughts about him “abandoning royal duties.” It’s pathetic. “It’s a shame he didn’t hang around to do more but I guess he ticked that box and scratched that itch and moved on.” The press kept outing his tours, and Harry absolutely wanted to keep serving. He was basically blocked from doing so because he needed to become a “working royal” to cover for his brother. Harry also did not abandon his military patronages – they were taken away from him as punishment for the Oprah interview.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
-
- PLYMOUTH, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 20: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Captain General Royal Marines, visits 42 Commando Royal Marines at their base in Bickleigh to carry out a Green Beret presentation at Dartmoor National Park on February 20, 2019 in Plymouth, England.,Image: 535413127, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon (in process) / Avalon
-
- PLYMOUTH, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 20: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Captain General Royal Marines, visits 42 Commando Royal Marines at their base in Bickleigh to carry out a Green Beret presentation at Dartmoor National Park on February 20, 2019 in Plymouth, England.,Image: 535413161, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon (in process) / Avalon
-
- PLYMOUTH, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 20: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Captain General Royal Marines, visits 42 Commando Royal Marines at their base in Bickleigh to carry out a Green Beret presentation at Dartmoor National Park on February 20, 2019 in Plymouth, England.,Image: 535413200, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon (in process) / Avalon
I’m disappointed in this guy. Surely he knows why PH left the military and why he left being a “working’ royal. And still he puts his own negative spin on it. I’m sure his stories about training PH could apply to many of his trainees. Going on about PH is what gets him noticed though.
True.
I read most of those article though as Harry coming off well. A focused person who came from privilege but did well in the end. As a whole it reads like an annual review at work and although the last bit is disappointing to read, it is an opinion.
I am more annoyed he is given a soap box of any sort.
Amused at how the instructor really lays into Harry about the nitpicky detail oriented approach Harry had.
Has the man never met a Virgo before? Classic Virgo behaviour.
Also that intensity and desire to learn it all, was a trait his grandfather Prince Phillip possessed as well.
At least Hazza showed true motivation in his service roles, unlike The Salty Part-Time Brother.
Absolutely, @where’smytiara! I read that part and thought “yes, a fellow virgo, cap rising in the wild. screw all that noise, don’t you see me concentrating on my minutiae???”
Not sure why this is upsetting to anyone – Harry comes off very well and the guy sounds relatively balanced and thoughtful in his assessment. Saying that he’s disappointed Harry couldn’t serve longer isn’t negative at all.
Very well said, Olivia. That was my impression and feelings about all of this as well.
I do find myself mystified why people persist in misunderstanding and reframing in the most inaccurate terms how Harry spoke of his “number” and why.
olivia & Schrodinger’s Kate, I think what the article lacks is the fact that it was QE2 that wanted Harry to resign the military and start working for the Firm. My feeling is that there is no one who was more disappointed than Harry that he had to leave.
This idiot really is trying to make attention to detail sound like a poor trait, instead of the hallmark of a good employee.
@wheresmytiara Fellow Virgo here, taking a break from obsessive detail for five seconds to agree. We are who we are. We also get things done, and done well.
I agree.
Clearly he should sit down and shut up: disappointment in Harry? For what? Success and happiness? For being kicked out for suggesting to be half in half out when the william next in line is doing his half in half out from home while disregarding all his patronages unlike Harry? It’s a shame Harry isnt there in the UK to take over for those who are incapable. They missed out. This shows how Harry is focused and a hard worker, thats what I remember after reading these lines .
Disappointed he’s not there and disappointed in Harry are two different things. I really don’t think this reads bad at all. I wouldn’t be upset if someone said any of this about me. I would be happy to hear that someone is disappointed I left their organization.
Funny, he suggested Harry reply no comment when he himself decided to open up about H, who has no current relationship with this Sgt., who only brought him up to sell books.
Maybe he should spend sometime contemplating his indiscretions and less time talking about Harry.
As I recall, Harry had to choose between leaving the military or taking on a desk job, as I recall the reason was if he stayed in active duty he would have been promoted to a rank above William’s, and they couldn’t have that. Harry found a way, through the Invictus Games, to still stay connected and committed to the military and those that serve.
He couldn’t get promoted above the cry baby? Wow.
Yeah, the guy saying he wished Harry was still at the head of the military made no sense and showed a real lack of understanding. Harry left the military only after his location was leaked. William is higher up in the hierarchy and will thus have a role as head of the military. That was never an option for Harry.
@Harla A Brazen Hussy -He actually got promoted to the rank of a \Captain but for a time he couldn’t use the rank as he would have out ra need William
Also there was a clip of William was back home at the military control room showing Harry in Afghanistan in some type of engagement . William then gave the sign to cut which was relayed to the controller and then to Harry. Harry was crestfallen.
I think that was the moment his 2nd tour to Afghanistan came to an end – at the insistence of William and not the press
Actually, Harry was promoted to the rank of MAJOR after his promotion to Captain, that’s the one which for some reason, the media are no longer using, as though it didn’t matter.
Yes
Yes, at the time he was on track to be promoted to Major; as a Captain, he already outranked Workshy’s earned rank of Lieutenant.
This may also gave been a factor as to why H was denied his uniform during Her Maj’s funeral.
Yes, Harry was in line for a promotion to Major. Imagine how incandescent William was when he was told this.
I though he left because the press kept telling the enemy were his was.
The press didn’t keep telling the enemy where he was, an Australian women’s magazine (of all things) *inadvertently* broke a global media blackout on Harry’s deployment in Afghanistan, forcing him to withdraw from frontline duty. They subsequently apologized and claimed they didn’t know about the news embargo on him…sounds like a flimsy excuse at best.
@Jaded – well, we know the Rota gets around UK embargoes by putting things in US papers… they probably did this in Australia also.
The whole thing has the stench of Murdoch about it.
That was the second time. It also happened on his first deployment.
👍🏼
This Steve Jones, Is he even allowed to discuss this stuff let alone write a book?
The Powers That Be must have given him the green light, and a lot of money, to try to take away some of the real value he does with IG. I’m looking at you, Bill, you petty loser.
Exactly! He says Harry shouldn’t discuss his military kills while he discusses Harry’s military kills. So it’s okay for Jones to talk about Harry’s training, military career, military patronages, and life away from the royals but God forbid Harry from telling of his experiences. This man is a hypocrite of the first order and is now trying to profit off of Harry. I hope his book flops. Harry is a Legend of Aviation. Something Jones will never be.
It seems that Harry is the only British person who is not allowed to write a memoir.
Well said! It’s once again, only other people can tell Harry’s story. If he tells his own life, he’s always attention seeking, bragging, whining or deflecting attention from Huevo Diablo. How can others profit if Harry spills all the goods himself.
@Brassy Rebel Well said. And Meghan not allowed to make jam. 😛
Joanne, brilliant answer, I wonder how many people there are who are actually making a living by being horrid and telling lies about Harry.
At first none of this looked too bad, seemed like an honest assessment of an instructor about a student, then I came to the end of the excerpt. Geez Louise. And he hasn’t seen in Harry in what, 10 years? More? He doesn’t know ‘how he is now’.
Exactly my reaction! the first quotes aren’t anything significant – he’s saying he earned his role, he’s saying he put in the work, and the worst thing he can say about him is that he was too picky, too worried about accuracy, too focused.
and then he talks about scratching an itch? what the what? he wasn’t allowed to remain on tour in Afghanistan. And that also overlooks everything else he’s done since leaving the military with the military and veteran community, AND it overlooks the whole reason he shared his number. But I guess its clear he can’t actually badmouth his service so he’ll go this way.
The tabloids first discussed Harry’s kill number years and years before he wrote spare. Spare was clearly about correcting mistruths Harry had seen about him in the press. And he wanted it to be something that didn’t cause shame. Harry’s work with veterans is clearly important if this is the attitude that some people from the military actually hold. But yeah, the rest was more or less fine. It still feels like clouting for his book. Need attention? Say something about Harry and make sure that there’s some sort of a negative slant somewhere. It’s cookie-cutter at this point.
Jobson wrote about Harry’s kill numbers first. Pretty sure Jobbo claimed them to be higher. Harry was correcting Jobbo.imo
I think the editor of the Telegraph took liberties with what was printed. I’m not going to buy the book to find out what Steve(ie) Jones said. Just going to say that ‘recollections may vary’. I don’t recall SJ’s name being mentioned in SPARE. I’m not going to slam him, yet. Harry discussed his training and mentioned names. Nige was the big one.
That said, this guy seems to be complimentary to Harry. An attention to detail/being hyper focused on minutiae while flying an Apache helicopter shouldn’t be a bad thing. Jones would know this. The skanky BM is doing what they do as far as I’m concerned. If you look at the costs/prices for military helicopters..it sounds like Harry treated them like babies under his personal protection. And, that’s not a bad thing. At all.
https://simpleflying.com/most-expensive-military-helicopters-guide/
To me, this is a man who hasn’t seen or spoken to Harry in years and is now a product of his environment. Everything he thinks he knows about Harry is what he has read about him in the British media. And that is the media’s power. It doesn’t matter that it’s wrong, it’s that even people not really paying attention still have a distorted view. The media is why the west is falling, it’s just super obvious in the UK as they’re awful and shameless.
Yes, if the BM had written article after article about how Harry discussing his kill count actually helped veterans then it’s unlikely this guy would say it was wrong for him to do so. But that’s not the tabloid narrative.
Another reason for the UK to lose the bid for IG.
No one would have bought this man’s book unless he wrote about Harry, and now those who respect Prince Harry will leave it on the shelves of the bookstores collecting dust.
#NoInvictusGames4UK
Damn, the UK seems absolutely poisonous to the healing mission of the IG. It seems to me that instead of good vibes, tight community, and a feeling of family, the UK will try to destroy that sense of IG camaraderie and devolve the entire event into a hate fest against Meghan.
Key players in the UK (including the viper press) have made their own best arguments as to why Nigeria or ANY other country would be a healthier choice to host future Invictus Games.
We know one thing, wherever it is held the BM will make it all about Harry and Meghan and we will hear nothing about the athletes.
Someone wanted his 15 minutes of gutter press fame and some spending money. What a shame.
I will never understand the complete lack of autonomy and agency that people expect Harry to have. Beyond the fact that he wanted to stay and was told no, why do they act like someone leaving a job that doesn’t work for them anymore is inherently wrong? Framing it like he was scratching an itch and wasn’t beyond dedicated to his role is revisionist and disrespectful. He didn’t abandon anything, he was born into a family and had his life decided for him. Choosing his own future is not and will never be ” abandonment ‘, and the fact that people who have been able to do what they want in regards to their own life’s trajectory act like he’s wrong for doing the same is so disgusting.
I am right there with you. The ownership a certain element feel about Harry is disturbing. He is a man who has committed his LIFE to helping others, how can anyone be disappointed in him? He’s managed to find an extremely effective way to help people all over the world without taking a damn thing from anyone.
In the UK , there is archaic belief/ custom that a person ie any of its subjects can never be above the Monarchy / Monarch – so everything must below it.
This is the basis of the class system in the UK & by extension, the way the English relate to the world .
Harry was expected to put up and shut up and do whatever the monarch or his heir expected him to do ( ie allow Meghan to flee /possibly hounded to the point offing un alived) – for the crown and country.
It was what happened to Mageret ( who gave up marrying Peter Townsead )& to Andrew. (There was a play sometime ago that alluded to the fact that it was pressure from the Palace / RF that made Andrew divorce Fergie because the public expected it. It may be the reason why Andrew is protected at the moment since had he remained married , he would not have fallen into the company of Epstein)
Him going against the grain is seen by some as betrayal. The BM/ palace have been instructed to cast them aside as much as possible if they cannot be reined in. This is the reason we see the level of attacks on H&M – they are not allowed outshine the monarchy
@Jemmy, this is why monarchies should be abolished. You can’t treat people like furniture and place them where you like and expect them to remain there, no questions asked. So Harry’s marriage and children mean nothing to his “family”. He’s a better person than me to even still give a d@mn about that bunch because clearly he means nothing to them. So much for the Hallmark movie fairy tale.
It’s the average monarchists that disturb me the most, that family is just awful from top to bottom.
They really feel Harry owes them servitude, and even though he is FAR more effective outside of the monarchy than in it, they consider him a traitor. I just do not understand how anyone can look at Harry and feel anything but admiration for a man who has dedicated himself to helping others, when he really doesn’t have to do a thing for the rest of his life.
Stevie , Harry created the invictus games to help wounded soldiers and their families. What have you done other than ride his coattails?
Well said! Thank you,💯👍☝️
Hear hear
Agreed.
The military doesn’t want veterans to discuss how many people they have killed because that gives an impression that is misleading? Seriously?
The military forces around the world *literally* are in place to *kill people on behalf of a government’s orders*.
Harry discussing his kill number and encouraging veterans to speak up about their kill numbers and to seek mental health support to deal with being trained to be a killing machine is going to save lives. Many veterans struggle with guilt over what they did while in the military and the government just expects them to suck it up and move on.
This Jones guy is a dick.
Yeah, he’s definitely a dick. Harry clearly said it’s not something he’s proud of but it’s part of the reality of his service. The derangers like to say Harry just sat around and played video games all day while in the military but I haven’t seen anyone from the military dispute what he said in Spare.
That’s a badmouthing? He’s mildly critical, but qualifying Harry leaving the service as scratching an itch sounds silly on the face of it, as if this guy may also have trouble looking too hard at the details vs the bigger picture.
I actually don’t think this excerpt is that bad. In fact, because he is mildly critical it’s harder to dismiss the other more important positive things he says, including Harry did the actual work and was very good pilot. Ratchets and critics often try to diminish harrys military service by saying he is dim and only passed because of his family connections etc.
Harry went to Apache “Top Gun”
School in the Arizona dessert which was much more intense and was the continuation of his training. We are all
aware of this because the end of training celebration was in Las Vegas and ended up with some headlines. This guy did not turn him into the top gun pilot.’He seems to have left that out.
Yeah, I actually read this as slightly more positive than negative. It seems like a pretty well-rounded mild critique, other than the end bit – but given the way he followed up anything negative with something positive to put it in perspective, I almost wonder if they cut something out.
I’m just so sick of this. If Harry hadn’t put “his number” in the book, then the British press would’ve leaked it (or just made it up) and the discourse would’ve been even more toxic.
It’s just infuriating to me that the British press can continue to publish lie after lie and lob abuse and hate at the Sussexes and everyone just falls for it. Nobody talks about the king or will or where the f*ck kate is with even the slightest hint of critical thought, it’s all obviously bought off trolls screaming “AND WE STILL HATE HARRY, DON’T YOU FORGET IT!”
It had already been published years before in the tabloids, so it wasn’t even news when the book came out!
Yeah, I wouldn’t really file this under bad mouthing Harry. He was pretty complimentary in some ways and was just describing him the way he saw him in other ways. Many of us get lost in details sometimes or need our inner joker reigned in occasionally.
The odd thing is including Harry stepping back. Heaps of guys do their time and then leave the military. It’s not a permanent career for the majority and it’s clear why. That aside I think possibly it might have been for Harry if he wasn’t who he was which impacted how his career was managed. This guy fails to acknowledge that. As for “how he is now” that’s just a koolaid comment. If Harry’s ‘now’ work with military personnel globally thru IG is him having backed away I don’t really know what this guy expects of him.
Anyway, he has a book to sell so the Harry excerpts have to be publicized first. It’s tiring but we all know the game by now. This book is about Apaches so of course “Harry” like books about Charles and Camilla – all we hear about for weeks beforehand is “Harry”.
What a horrible thing to say about anyone who has served, that they’ve stepped backwards since serving. Knowing the mental health crisis that comes from leaving military service and the camaraderie as well as the trauma of active combat.
Speaking of disappointments since serving, has this backstabbing loser in the mirror, because speaking this way about people who served under you is the opposite of leadership.
Is it that when British journalists do interviews they don’t push back when the subject utters misinformation? Harry didn’t abandon his duties. Plus he was never going to be head of the military. As for the kills, the military had no problem promoting other officers kills in the press so what’s so different about Harry?
The numbers of his kills were in the book Harry’s War: The True Story of the Soldier Prince. It was written by Robert Jobson. There were many articles also. Harry saved American lives in that battle. He was a hero.
Thank you. This. RJ had already written about Harry’s kills but when Harry writes about them it’s somehow wrong. It makes no sense and is a clear example of smearing Harry just to smear Harry.
Is this the guy who did Harry’s initial helicopter training, or the guy who trained Harry on the Apache? I thought it was two different instructors, and part of Harry’s training took place in the US. How else would this guy promote his book except by exploiting Harry?
I won’t be in the majority, but I don’t feel like this was that bad. I thought it was pretty flattering until the end when he shared he was “disappointed”, and even that I don’t think amounts to much. I think it’s okay to disagree with Harry/Meghan or not always “like” their actions. It feels like you either need to be completely 110% on their “side” or not on their “side”, and that is unreasonable to me.
It’s okay to criticize, but don’t do it by lying or guessing at his reasons. It is pretty well known why PH resigned from the military.
It wasn’t bad per se but completely whitewashed the reasons why Harry HAD to leave. His location had been revealed by some women’s Australian magazine and Harry had a HUGE price on his head. He left immediately not only to save his own life but the lives of the soldiers he fought with. The Afghan militia would have dropped a big bomb on the whole encampment had he stayed. He was offered a desk job but that wasn’t to his liking at all, and he certainly wouldn’t have been allowed to overshadow his idiot brother in military ranking, so there you have it. No mention of Harry’s great work with Invictus Games though, which is a slap in the face not only to Harry but to all the brave participants.
I think you are hitting the nail on the head with the 110% however I will broaden that lense as a problem in the world at large. “Us” “Them” mentality and it really doesn’t need to be like that. Sometimes Us is us and them, sometimes us is 2 people sometimes us is 10 people etc.. you get my drift. Too many absolutes .
That’s the truth, olivia!
I’d appreciate it if people wouldn’t constantly make comments like this, lumping everyone on this site into a monolith they can criticize as not being open to criticism on H and M. It’s getting repetitive and old.
For example, my issue with this guy is: No leader of troops would ever speak like this about anyone who served under them, attacking what they’ve done since they left. It’s a betrayal of a code of honor. It’s so awful for service people when they leave, it causes mental health crises. No decent leader would ever attack someone who served for what they did after they served.
not sure where you get that it’s not okay to not like H and M, the whole world is constantly criticizing them. If that’s your jam, you’ve got a wide audience and any place to land without pushback, except here. And that seems to really be the issue every time someone makes a comment like this. They want to criticize without any rebuttal, and seem to not appreciate the irony.
Thanks for your comment, WiththeAmerican. I do think it’s okay for me to express my opinion here though, even if you find my opinion repetitive and old. I don’t think the whole world is constantly criticizing Harry and Meghan. I think one portion of it is constantly criticizing, and one portion is constantly praising. I actually really like them, but I also don’t like some of the things they do. So it’s not my jam to find an echo chamber. I appreciate the more moderate coverage of them that can both appreciate and criticize them, and the only place I’ve really seen that is at Lainey. To be clear, I love this site, but I also think the coverage here of Harry and Meghan is really extreme. Just like the opposite coverage is extreme on other sites. I decided to comment about it today.
The timing of the article – let alone the negative slant is of course placed right before the Invictus celebration next week.
Ugh. More screaming needed I guess by the Brit’s.
The other thing .. I’ve said before is that Britain is supposedly applying to host the Invictus Games. How on Earth would anyone think they would be suitable hosts due to all the negativity that would come with it. Imbeciles.
🎯 How can they be suitable hosts when they bring this type of negativity?
I just read that UK is on the shortlist to host he next Invictus Games. Imagine if William is king by then. However, I also imagine that Harry will do what is best for Invictus, and the foundation.
If they keep shooting themselves in the foot by continuing to bad mouth Harry they will be off the list entirely.
I’m ex-military, and let me just say…this is not “slamming” Harry, in any way. It is a superior officer giving an honest evaluation, not over glorifying the praise, from someone who Harry was assigned with. This is NOT insulting, no matter how the roaches try to spin it. Don’t feed this narrative as negative.
Yeah, I didn’t read this as overly critical. I mean, the guy says that maybe Harry was overly detail-oriented, but that’s a good thing, right?
And he said Harry has “done his bit for his country. We can never take that away from him. He’s done an Apache course. He’ll always be one of us.”
Exactly. Most of the negativity seems to have been inserted by the journalist after, not part of the interview.
These quotes are annoying but from the headline I was expecting worse. At least the guy admits that Harry was a good hardworking student who earned his right to fly apaches and completed a successful tour in Afghanistan in an Apache – something derangers keep trying to lie on. The extra crap about his personal feelings on Harry post army are just unfortunately what you expect from most Brits who get knews filtered to them from their press without reading Harry’s book themselves or bothering to think for themselves. Oh well.
Harry himself on Colbert says he understood why some people were angry because if he heard that someone was bragging about killing people, which he didn’t do but the UK press lied and said he did, he’d be outraged too. Harry in many ways is too understanding when it comes to people on that island but thankfully he doesn’t live there anymore so they’re not his problem anymore.
question is can he outsell Harry, will he get into the Guinness world records, maybe he will out sell levin and bower, trash talking to sell books
This doesn’t seem like bad-mouthing to me. I bet Harry would acknowledge and accept the fair judgments of his skills and weaknesses in training. Sure, I don’t care for the remarks about what’s happened after he left the RF, but he’s not hysterical about it. The newspaper likely pressured him for some “hating Harry” soundbites.
I think he tried to talk out of both sides of his mouth, but you can’t have your cake and eat it too. I wonder if he was presented talking points and asked if he would sign off on them. This makes me ill, but I like to think for every demented, there are two who know what really happened.
most of these quotes seem complimentary to me? i guess talking about him is kind of tacky to get clout, but the kill count thing is the only thing that seems non-complimentary but he’s not the only one that’s said that. I think it’s a sensitive subject and among my vet friends most are divided on it. overall, this didn’t read as a hit piece.
Eh, it wasn’t the worst article ever written about Harry and you can be sure that the Telegraph is going to put the most negative spin on everything the guy said. Also, I thought the “abandoning his duties” applied more to leaving the royal mafia and not so much the military. That is the constant cry of the media, never mentioning of course the fact that they terrorized his wife and made it a living hell for her.
So it’s NOT bad form to talk about your famous trainees and details about how they did, your speculative opinions on why they left the military, etc? Dude come on. Do you hear your bad form in talking about someone else’s bad form?
I didn’t think this interview was that bad, but that bit of hypocrisy jumps off the page.
Isn’t the monarch supposed to be at the head of the military though ? Also Harry is one of the only members of the royal family who actually has some military experience so perhaps Steve Jones should calm down a little bit.
I actually think it’s a decent interview. I also think that it sucks — ethically — for a military instructor to write a book that describes an identified / identifiable student’s training experiences. So Harry was wise to not “open up” to someone willing to exploit their relationship to sell books and garner interviews. That said, anything that Harry put in Spare or said himself in an interview is fair game, so it’s possible that Jones ( I haven’t read and won’t be reading his book) stayed within reasonable boundaries — even though I doubt it based on these excerpts.
This is my issue with this man. This shouldn’t be done to anyone who served under him. It’s not normal to do and I sure hope this guy doesn’t name check anyone else who served under him, at least Harry has mental health support but many do not.
. . . I don’t think Jones said anything too terribly out of pocket. He didn’t say Harry abandoned his duties; the writer said that. We don’t even know if the interviewer used that phrase during the interview, and if so, whether or how Jones responded to it. Most of what Jones actually said is neutral-to-complimentary toward Harry. It does sound like he didn’t understand what Harry was trying to do with “the number” in Spare, but it’s also likely that he didn’t actually read Spare, and only read media reports of it, which usually characterized that section as bragging.
So Harry’s flying an Apache and needs to precision-target enemy combatants, and this dude is complaining about… *checks notes* Harry having attention to detail.
Got it.
Funny how the UK press did not pursue the story of Air Ambulance pilots and staff saying Prince William was lazy and unreliable. He did not show up for shifts even though he only had 15 hrs a week ‘work’ schedule. How about asking his instructors how good a pilot he was in training which is probably on a scale with his Polo playing and sking ……………..ummmmmmm!