Prince Harry reveals why he shared his Afghanistan body count
Prince Harry has shared why he felt compelled to share the number of people he killed while fighting in Afghanistan.
In his memoir Spare, the Duke of Sussex revealed that over two tours in the war-torn country, he killed 25 people.
Now, in yet another promotion for his book, he said that he believed soldiers should discuss “parts of our service that haunt us”.
Harry was criticised by senior military figures for revealing his "kill count", while the Taliban accused the royal of committing war crimes after he referred to people he killed as “chess pieces”.
He has now told People magazine that he is open about his military service for my own healing journey” and “in the hopes it will help others”.
“I know from my own healing journey that silence has been the least effective remedy,” he told the magazine.
“Expressing and detailing my experience is how I chose to deal with it, in the hopes it would help others.”
He continued, “This is something each soldier has to confront, and in the nearly two decades of working alongside service personnel and veterans, I’ve listened to their stories and have shared mine."
“In these conversations, we often talk about the parts of our service that haunt us — the lives lost, the lives taken. But also the parts of our service that heal us and the lives we’ve saved."
“It’s a duty, a job, and a service to our country — and having done two tours of duty in Afghanistan for my country, I’ve done all I could to be the best soldier I was trained to be."
“There’s truly no right or wrong way to try and navigate these feelings.”
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