Prince Harry‘s Apache helicopter pilot instructor has said he was wrong to say how many people he killed in combat. Steve Jones, 53, trained Harry, who returned to Afghanistan as an Apache gunner in 2012, having first served in the country as an infantryman in 2008.
The Duke of Sussex claimed to have killed 25 Taliban fighters in his best-selling memoir, Spare, sparking criticism from military and intelligence experts.
Mr Jones praised Harry’s service but told the Telegraph listing the number killed was not what the military is about.
He said: “We’re not here to say, ‘I did this, I did that’. It’s not a game. These are real people. They’ve got families. I wouldn’t have made any comment. I get a very uneasy feeling for anybody who says, ‘I killed 10’. It’s not what should be said, at all.
“But [Harry] did have a successful tour. It’s a shame he didn’t hang around to do more but I guess he ticked that box and scratched that itch and moved on. I would say he’s stepped backwards in a way, from the way he was to [how he is] now.”
Mr Jones, who has written a memoir about his experiences entitled Apache at War: Flying the World’s Deadliest Attack Helicopter in Combat, praised Harry’s work ethic.
He recalled the prince was a “good” student, who could sometimes play the joker, but was able to relax a bit away from the glare of the media.
The instructor commended the Duke for doing his bit for his country and expressed regret Harry is no longer at the head of the military. Mr Jones said: “He’ll always be one of us.”
Harry wrote in Spare that every kill was on video, referring to nose cameras Apache helicopters carry. He stated: “So, after every mission, there would be a careful review of that video”.
The Duke said he was part of six missions which ended in “the taking of human life” and they were “all deemed justified”, adding: “I deemed them the same”.
His disclosure prompted criticism from top military figures including Colonel Tim Collins, who delivered a now famous motivational speech before the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
He accused Harry of turning against the “military family” as well as his “birth family” by making the claims.
He told Forces Network: “That’s not how you behave in the army. It’s not how we think.”
Apache At War by Steve Jones is published on May 9 by John Blake in hardback, eBook and audio. It is available to preorder now.
