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Prince Harry’s claim in his new book that he killed 25 Taliban fighters during his military service in Afghanistan is drawing extensive pushback from veterans, who say publishing a head count is violating an unspoken code and could jeopardize security for the British forces as well as himself.
Retired British Army Col. Tim Collins, who led troops in battle during the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, was harshly critical of the claim.
“This is not how we behave in the army. It’s not how we think,” Col. Collins said in an interview with the Forces News British military news organizations. “He has badly let the side down. We don’t do notches on the rifle butt. We never did.”
The startling revelation is made in “Spare,” Harry’s eagerly anticipated tell-all memoir of his life as the son of King Charles III and younger brother of Prince William, the heir to the British throne. The book, which is set to be released in the U.S. on Tuesday, is the latest salvo in his ongoing battle with his family following his marriage to Meghan Markle.
J.C. Bowman, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, said the British government went to “great lengths” to protect Harry while he was deployed in Afghanistan.
“It seems strange he would create a real liability on himself, his family and his fellow military vets by bragging on his exploits of killing enemy combatants,” Mr. Bowman told The Washington Times. “It was foolish, and the British government should verify if accurate or repudiate the statement if he lied.”
The Defense Department is not talking about the claim, with a Pentagon spokesman on Friday referring any comments about the subject to British military officials.
A U.S. military officer in the Defense Department didn’t want to comment on Harry’s claim but said it’s not hard to believe that an Apache helicopter gunner could kill that many enemy troops.
