Prince Harry is in training at a military base in Canada to prepare for a possible British Army deployment to Afghanistan, newspapers reported on Sunday. The 22-year-old officer, third-in-line to the throne, is at the British Army Training Unit Suffield, about 100 miles (160 kilometres) southeast of Calgary in Alberta. The casually-dressed prince flew to Calgary from London Heathrow Airport on Wednesday, newspapers said. “They got him in and out of there very quickly,” a witness was quoted as saying in The Mail on Sunday, News of the World and the Sunday Mirror.Army top brass stopped Harry from joining his regiment’s recent deployment to Basra in southern Iraq over fears he would be headhunted by insurgents. Reports have said he is being lined up for a posting to Afghanistan instead, where it would be harder for Taliban rebels to pinpoint his location. British troops are taking on insurgents in the restive southern Helmand province.
Harry is a second lieutenant in the elite Blues and Royals regiment of the British Army’s Household Cavalry, responsible for 11 soldiers and four Scmitar reconnaissance vehicles. Harry, known as Cornet Wales in the Army, is expected to practice “fire and manoeuvre” operations at Suffield, the largest training area available for British armoured vehicles, according to the Sunday Mirror. “All the armoured live firing training is done at Suffield. It points towards a posting in Helmand. That kind of role is less in demand now in Iraq,” a military source told the tabloid. The British Army’s website says: “this area is one of the largest our army trains on and it provides a highly realistic environment.” The British Army and Britain’s Ministry of Defence refused to comment.