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Rediff.com  » News » Prince Harry to begin training for Iraq

Prince Harry to begin training for Iraq

Source: PTI
May 12, 2006 19:36 IST
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Prince Harry, the third in line to the British throne, will begin his training in May to prepare him for deployment in Iraq in October 2006.

Beginning on May 22, the newly-commissioned officer will take the troop commander's course for the next five months in Dorset and get "up to his elbows in engine grease" while sharing a cramped and sometimes noxious tank with two others, the Daily Telegraph reported on Friday.

The decision on how to use the prince, who has expressed a strong desire to fight alongside his men on operations, will be made by his commanding officer at Windsor Lt Col Ed Smyth-Osbourne.

"He is third in line to the throne and that brings with it certain implications. But Prince Harry is a troop commander and he has a job to do," Col Jamie Martin, the chief of staff at the Armour Centre, told the newspaper.

"Here he will be treated like any other officer and he will be addressed by me by his Christian name and by others as Cornet Wales," he said.

Cornet is a rank unique to the Blues and Royals and is used to address a second lieutenant. "It will be a physically and mentally challenging course, but one that will prepare him well for the future," the officer said.

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