The 27-year-old arrived in Camp Bastion in Helmand in the early hours of this morning, where he will be based for the duration of his tour with 622 Sqn, 3 Regiment Army Air Corps.
His role will be to kill insurgents as he operates the aircraft's weapon systems, which include Hellfire missiles and a 30mm chain gun. He will also be expected to provide air cover on missions by special forces.
Prince Harry is shown the Apache flight-line by a member of his squadron at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan (John Stillwell/PA)
He spent his first morning at Camp Bastion checking over the state-of-the-art Army aircraft he has likened to a "robot".
He looked relaxed, if slightly tired, and gave a thumbs-up after a long journey on a standard troop flight from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. He climbed up to peer into the cockpit of one of the helicopters he will fly and crouched down to inspect its weapons.
Royal sources said Captain Wales, as he is know in the Army, was full of "pride and anticipation" as he returned to Afghanistan four and a half years after his last tour, as a Forward Air Controller with the Household Cavalry, was cut short because of a media blackout being broken.
The Prince of Wales was said to be "immensely proud of his son" and wished him well when Prince Harry stayed at Birkhall on the Balmoral estate over the bank holiday weekend.
His brother, the Duke of Cambridge, said his goodbyes at Kensington Palace earlier this week, where the two Princes have their London homes.
In stark contrast to the media blackout imposed when the Prince undertook his previous tour, the Ministry of Defence has taken the decision to inform the public about his presence in Afghanistan from the word go, and arranged for a reporter and photographer from the Press Association news agency to fly to Camp Bastion to provide coverage on a pooled basis.
The BBC's Kabul team was given the job of providing pooled film footage.
MoD sources said the Ministry had decided on the change of tack because the Prince's role this time around is markedly different from his tour of 2007-2008. Back then, as an infantry soldier, there were fears that if the Taliban knew of his presence it would put his comrades at greater risk than usual, because insurgents would concentrate their efforts on trying to kill or capture such a prized target.
This time, however, the Prince is flying in a two-man helicopter, meaning he will be no more or less of a target than any other Apache pilot. The fact that he will be based at Camp Bastion, the main British base in Helmand, also means he will be virtually impossible to get at.
After about 10 days of acclimatisation and training to hone his skills, the Prince will be ready to go out on operations in his role as co-pilot gunner.
Commander of the Joint Aviation Group, Captain Jock Gordon (Royal Navy), who will be Prince Harry's commanding Officer at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan (John Stillwell/PA)
"His commander's assessment is that he is fully ready and trained. He will be treated exactly the same as any other pilot while he is there.
"The Queen and the Prince of Wales have been kept informed all the way along and have known for a long time the window in which he would most likely deploy."
The Prince, who graduated from his training course as "Top Gun" among more than 20 other co-pilot gunners in his class, will be part of the unit with the greatest "kill rate" of any in Afghanistan, currently averaging around two Taliban killed every week.
"Killing insurgents is what the machine Prince Harry flies is there for; you cannot put it any other way," said one defence source.
His spokesman said killing Taliban fighters was "not an issue at all" for the Prince, adding: "He is a soldier so soldiers do what they are required to do."
Although he is on attachment to the Army Air Corps, the Prince remains a cavalry officer in the Blues and Royals, meaning he wears a Blues and Royals uniform with an Army Air Corps beret and badge for formal occasions.
The Prince was "incredibly frustrated" to be pulled out of Afghanistan 11 weeks into his last tour because of US media reporting on his presence there, said his spokesman, though the fully understood why the decision had been taken.
"He has made no secret of the fact that, like any soldier, he wants to fight in theatre," the spokesman said. "When he entered the Army Air Corps two and a half years ago it gave him an opportunity to train in a role that could allow him to do that.
"He considers himself first and foremost to be a soldier and he is doing the most natural thing in the world to be going there."
The Prince qualified as an Apache pilot in February, having undergone 18 months of training at RAF Wattisham in Suffolk and also at air bases in the US, where he first acquired his taste for partying in Las Vegas.
His training also included a survival course during which he was hooded and interrogated in a simulated Taliban kidnapping.
Prince Harry was greeted at Bastion by the commander of the Joint Aviation Group, Captain Jock Gordon (Royal Navy).
He said: "I extend an extremely warm welcome to 662 Squadron, including Captain Wales, who with his previous experience as a forward air controller on operations will be a useful asset to the Joint Aviation Group.
"And working together with his colleagues in the squadron, he will be in a difficult and demanding job, and I ask that he be left to get on with his duties and allowed to focus on delivering support to the coalition troops on the ground."
The Duke of Cambridge is said to be "incredibly proud" of his brother. When he qualified as an Apache pilot a royal source said: "There's lots of banter between them because of them both being helicopter pilots.
"Prince Harry tells Prince William he is flying a washing machine, because the Sea King is such an old, reliable workhorse, and William tells Harry he is flying a computer game because the Apache is so sleek, fast and advanced." ( telegraph.co.uk )
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Post : Prince Harry arrives in Afghanistan at start of four-month tour as Apache helicopter pilot
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