Prince Harry felt "guilty" leaving his soldiers in Afghanistan.
Prince Harry
The 32-year-old royal spent one decade in the British armed forces during which time he took part in two tours of Afghanistan, but was forced to leave his troops in 2008 after it was leaked he was on the front line, and almost 10 years later Harry still finds the whole ordeal "hard to swallow" and wishes he could have stayed to continue fighting with fellow soldiers.
Speaking in a heartfelt speech during the launch of the Sydney 2018 Invictus Games on Wednesday (07.06.17), which has also been shared on the Invictus Games Foundation website, the flame-haired hunk said: "In February 2008, I was forced to leave Afghanistan. I had been serving as an army officer in the British army until my presence on the front line leaked out into the press.
"I could no longer stay with my soldiers as it would have put them at greater risk. It was a decision over which I had no control, but the guilt of having to leave my guys behind was something I felt hard to swallow as anyone who has served would understand."
Although Harry was gutted by the decision to be removed from the battlefield something positive has come out of the action, as it inspired him to set up the Invictus games, which is a Paralympic-style sporting extravaganza, in 2014.
He continued: "It was that flight home from Afghanistan that put me on the path to the games. While we waited to board, a coffin of a young Danish soldier was put on the plane, and three soldiers in induced comas, all three wrapped in plastic, some with missing limbs and tubes coming out everywhere.
"Four years later, after another tour in Afghanistan, I began to look for ways in which to support the veterans who returned with injuries who in previous years simply would have been unsurvivable. When I visited the Warrior Games in Colorado, I knew what to do. Sport would make the difference and help them fix their lives and reconnect with those around them. The spectacle of sport combined with recovery against the odds would inspire everyone who saw it.
"I left Colorado with a determination to take it to an international audience so more people could see what I saw. Lives were changed in front of my eyes, amazing men and women proving the impossible is possible. That is exactly what we did when we held the first Invictus Games in 2014."
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