Prince Harry on Afghan tour: 'Take a life to save a life'

LONDON – Britain's Prince Harry completed a tour of duty of Afghanistan this week, bringing to an end a four-month deployment as an Apache helicopter pilot.

The Ministry of Defense revealed on Monday that Harry, 28, who is known to his military colleagues simply as Captain Wales, served as a helicopter co-pilot in Britain's 662 Squadron, 3 Regiment Army Air Corps.

He was stationed at Camp Bastion, a British base located in Helmand province, in southern Afghanistan. He flew scores of missions.

In media interviews conducted in Afghanistan, Harry said that he had killed Taliban fighters as part of missions in support of ground troops.

"Take a life to save a life. That's what we revolve around, I suppose," he said. "If there's people trying to do bad stuff to our guys, then we'll take them out of the game."

Harry, third in line to the British throne, graduated from the Sandhurst military academy in 2006. A year later he was sent to Afghanistan to serve, but that tour had to be cut short after a magazine and websites disclosed details of his whereabouts.

British media had agreed to a news blackout on security grounds.

Harry's older brother, William, is a search-and-rescue pilot with the Royal Air Force. He, too, has expressed a desire to serve on the front line, but officials consider it too dangerous. Harry said he thought William should be allowed to serve in combat.

Immediately before his second deployment to Afghanistan, Harry was pictured cavorting without clothes on in a Las Vegas hotel room. During interviews this week, Harry said he had "probably let myself down, I let my family down, I let other people down."

The British press on Tuesday ran a number of stories focusing on Harry's role in killing Taliban insurgents.

Contributing: Associated Press