I haven’t waded through all the posts on this thread, so apologies if this had already been said.
In an ideal world, Cornet Wales would complete his tour and the fact that he had been on active service not announced until he was (hopefully) safely home. That would be the best for both him and probably even moreso, the poor sods who’ll have to serve alongside him. But five minutes listening to Sky News would convince anyone that’s not going to happen. If the MoD tried something like that, some cretin looking for news scoop would announce every detail of the deployment down to Harry’s jockstrap size the moment he could learn it, including the grid co-ordinates of the bunker he was to sleep in and the khazi he’ll be taking his morning bog in.
Which led me to thinking that surely the military in Iraq could put this whole Harry business to their advantage? Having high profile people on the battlefield isn’t new. From Alexander the Great to Shakespeare’s Henry the Fifth, doubles (and triples and quadruples) have been used to confuse the enemy and have them expend major effort in trying to kill or capture the king. From the times of the ancient Greeks, it was common practice for more than one knight to dress in the king’s armour to confuse the enemy. (Anyone remember poor old Eric Bana aka Hector thinking he’s got Brad Pitt in the first reel of ‘Troy? - or was it the other way around?)
Surely having Harry (and a half dozen doubles) in theatre could be used to flush out as many bad guys as are willing to present themselves for slaughter? It goes without saying that there will be a huge force in place to ensure Harry doesn’t find himself in a Third Retreat from Kabul situation, so why not put that force to good use and troll him (and his many doubles) past the bad guys and invite attack – on our terms?