After coming off of a very successful tour of New Zealand, Prince Harry has spoken to The Telegraph about how serving in the Army ‘saved him’.
Prince Harry says he doesn’t know where he would be without the Army.
Next month the Prince will be leaving his 10-year military career and is calling for National Service to be brought back to the country.
Prince Harry spoke of how his life may have been very different if he had not spent the last ten years serving in the Army, saying: “I dread to think where I’d be without the Army.
“Bring back National Service – I’ve said that before. But I put my hand up, as I said to the kids today, you can make bad choices, some severe, some not so severe.
“Without a doubt, it does keep you out of trouble. You can make bad choices in life, but it’s how you recover from those and which path you end up taking.
“I did it because since I was a kid I enjoyed wearing the combats, I enjoyed running around with a rifle, jumping in a ditch and living in the rain, and stuff.
“But then when I grew up, it became more than that, it became an opportunity for me to escape the limelight.”
In 2005, the young Prince began his training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and another three and a half years with the Apache Force during his attachment to the Army Air Corps in training and operational service.
Capitan Harry Wales- as he is called in the Military has completed two tours in Afganistan before announcing on 17 March 2015 that he would be leaving the Armed Forces.
He recalled: “I’ve had an epic ten years, the Army giving me great jobs. I can never thank them enough for that,”
“The Army has done amazing things for me. And more importantly to me, what I’ve seen the Army do to other young guys.
“You know, I was a troop commander in Windsor for three and a half years, but I had 11 guys under my command.
“And some of those guys were – I mean naughty’s not the word – they were on a different level. And their backgrounds and the issues they had.
“And then over those three years to see the way that they changed is huge, absolutely huge.”
The proud new uncle suggested that his brother’s children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, should one day join as well.
“It’s done no harm, just good, for me, and I know it’s the same for William”.
After spending his remaining time before he retired with the Australian Army, last month Prince Harry ended his career flying helicopters, working with elite SAS commandos and bush survival skills and while he may be retired, he is showing no signs of slowing down.
Some of his summer plans consist of time in Africa working with conservations groups.
Harry added in: “I feel more myself in Africa, so even if people write it I sort of laugh it off because for me, it’s three months of hard grafting, up early mornings, late nights, working with animals, every single animal you could possibly imagine.
“I’ve been wanting to do it for the past five years, and being in the Army I just never ever had the opportunity to do it.
“With my interests in conservation which I’ve had all the way through, and for William’s as well, it’s nice for me to be able to actually get the opportunity to work with people on the ground where the truth is.
“So to actually get the chance to go to Africa, embed myself with the number one top vet in southern Africa, travel with him for three weeks and every job he gets called up to do, I follow him.
“That’s like my dream. It’s going to be amazing, whether it’s darting a lion or going into a community to see how they are changing the way they are working, and for the local culture to accept that an elephant means more to them money-wise alive than shooting it.”
Prince William will also be working on conservation efforts this coming Monday as he attends meetings in Switzerland for United for Wildlife, which Prince Harry and he started.
Photo Credit: UK in Italy via Flickr, UK Ministry of Defence via Flickr
