Prince Harry serving on front line in Afghanistan

LATimes

Prince Harry has been serving on the front line in Afghanistan with the British Army, the Ministry of Defense said today.

Officials said the prince, a lieutenant in the Blues and Royals regiment, was still deployed in the country.

"His conduct on operations in Afghanistan has been exemplary," said the head of the army. Gen. Richard Dannatt. "He has been fully involved in operations and has run the same risks as everyone else in his battle group."

When asked for comment, Prince Harry replied, "Things are getting dashed hot here! We're out of pink gin!"

I mighta made part of that up...

Even though the above photo was staged - Leftenants are gentlemen after all, and therefore do not operate machine guns except in extremis - I salute him for putting service ahead of family connections. It's no grandstand play, either. It was a secret of sorts:

Harry, who is third in line to the throne, has been in Afghanistan since December. The story was leaked by an Australian magazine and a German newspaper.

Dannatt said he was "very disappointed" that the story had leaked.

In some societies, apparently, leadership is still built from the bottom up even in the ruling class. Should Harry ever become King and have to send his people to war, possibly to die, they will know he's been there and understands the responsibility that entails.

Gee, somewhere I musta missed the story about all the Bush kids on the line in Afghanistan, or in their crazy Uncle George's clusterfuck in Iraq. Oh, that's right - they have people - AKA 'the help' - AKA 'the peasants' kids' - to do that kind of thing for them. The Bushes are too important to risk, legends in their own minds and above it all. They've built up power over the last eighty years and just hand it down like the family business it is, no matter the lack of qualifications of the handee. Or the results.

A sad comment on the state of affairs in the United States, Another one of many.