Navy veterans warn Invictus Online games is at ‘risk of terror attack’ amid Harry’s Taliban destroy promises

The Invictus Online games could be underneath danger of terror attacks adhering to Prince Harry’s offers that he killed 25 Taliban fighters, armed forces veterans have warned.

Admiral Lord West, former head of the Navy, instructed the Sunday Mirror: ‘The Invictus Online games is quite a great deal labelled to him and so I would have imagined the menace amount there will surely be greater.

‘There will be really serious security issues mainly because of what he said. The Taliban will be looking at it wondering you can find this prince contacting us all chess parts and is rather joyful about killing us.

‘And there will be a lot of persons, I am certain, in Islamic State and other terrorist organisations, who will think this is some thing which really should be avenged.’

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, hug Lisa Johnston, a former army medic and amputee, who celebrates with her medal at the Invictus Game titles location in The Hague, Netherlands, Sunday, April 17, 2022

File photo dated 27/02/08 of Warrant Officer Nathan Hunt in the course of his deployment to Helmand province in southern Afghanistan

The Duke of Sussex is the Founder of the Invictus Game titles, an worldwide sporting levels of competition for wounded army veterans that was released in 2014.

The next competitiveness is established to be held in Dusseldorf, Germany, in September, but military authorities say added actions will probable will need to be set in spot to protect the veterans.

It arrives as Harry’s comments were being condemned as a ‘terrible mistake’ by the grieving father of one particular of his Afghanistan comrades, who killed himself soon after returning home. 

Derek Hunt, whose son Nathan served as a bomb-disposal pro with Harry’s device in 2008, claimed: ‘A whole lot of troopers and veterans will locate his responses about killing quite upsetting – and potentially [they] may possibly even result in some folks into having flashbacks of their time in fight.’

It will come as an ex-Military mental overall health qualified told the Mail on Sunday he experienced been contacted by upset previous sufferers who examine about the Duke of Sussex’s remarks in his forthcoming memoir, Spare.

File image dated 27/02/08 of Warrant Officer Nathan Hunt (front appropriate) with Prince Harry (again centre), Dean Smith (back still left) and other members of their struggle group on deployment in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. Mr Hunt, who was mentioned in dispatches for his braveness in finding roadside bombs although serving together with Prince Harry in Afghanistan was identified hanged after suffering several years of nightmares and sleepless nights

Derek and Maria Hunt, moms and dads of Nathan Hunt, Royal Engineer, who took his own life in Jan 2018

In the book, Harry breached a long-standing navy personalized by likely into depth about capturing insurgents from his Apache helicopter gunship. He mentioned he rationalised the killing by relating to the enemy fighters as parts on a chess board.

Nathan Hunt, a warrant officer in the Royal Engineers, is mentioned to have saved Harry’s daily life on various occasions when he uncovered hidden roadside bombs buried by insurgents.

But he was diagnosed with article-traumatic anxiety ailment after coming home from war, and took his have lifetime in January 2018 when however serving in the Military.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are witnessed at the Invictus Video games in the Hague, 17 Apr 2022

Soon afterwards, Harry penned a going letter to Mr Hunt and his wife, Maria, crafting: ‘Grief can be a lengthy and burdensome highway. Please know you and your loved ones stay in my feelings.’

Mr Hunt, also an Army veteran, said his son would have been ‘disappointed’ by Harry’s responses about killing insurgents, adding: ‘Many of those people however serving or who are veterans would have invested decades attempting to neglect about the fact that they have killed individuals.

‘Taking someone’s lifetime is a extremely hard issue to are living with for most persons – it can be not anything to boast about. That’s why they never ever talk about it.

‘My son Nathan under no circumstances told us about what he had viewed or done simply because he understood it would be upsetting for us and he did not want to relive it.

‘He endured from nightmares because of what he experienced witnessed and he also experienced from PTSD. Harry’s boasts about killing people and getting rid of them from the battlefield will not sit easily with a large amount of folks and will bring again a ton of poor recollections.

‘I definitely can not have an understanding of why Harry has done this. It can be thoughtless. He won’t seem to be to have given it any thought.’

Previously unissued picture dated 12/12/2012 of Prince Harry at Camp Bastion southern Afghanistan, the place he served as an Apache Helicopter Pilot/Gunner with 662 Sqd Military Air Corps

Prince Harry mans a 50mm device gun aimed at Taliban fighters on January 2, 2008 in Helmand Province, Afghanistan

Taliban fighters patrol alongside a street in the course of a demonstration by men and women to condemn the the latest protest by the Afghan women’s legal rights activists, in Kabul on January 21, 2022

Main army figures have already criticised Harry’s remarks, voicing their concern that they could ‘trigger’ trauma for veterans with submit-traumatic anxiety disorder.

Previous night time, these fears were being verified as it emerged that veterans with mental health and fitness issues who experienced noticed information stories about Harry’s promises have known as on industry experts for support.

Former Army Significant Cormac Doyle, a psychological wellbeing nurse who served for 25 a long time and specialised in dealing with assistance personnel with psychological health and fitness troubles like PTSD, said: ‘I’ve by now obtained calls from quite a few of my previous sufferers who are extremely upset by what Harry has explained. In all my a long time serving and dealing with troops I’ve by no means heard anyone communicate like this.

‘Harry is intended to be a psychological-health campaigner, so what he mentioned was poorly thought out. This is not what I envisioned from him as a member of the Royal Household, but also, a lot more importantly, as a former Army officer. Words have implications, and he has upset a great deal of men and women struggling mentally.’

It will arrive as a devastating blow to Harry, who invested several years developing up his status as a mental-wellness campaigner. 

Taliban fighters guard outside the airport in Kabul on August 31, 2021

Prince Harry staying demonstrated the Apache flight-line by a member of his squadron (title not supplied) at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan, the place he operated from through his tour of obligation as a co-pilot gunner

A person Guards officer stated: ‘Most of us have invested the very last decade dodging probing meal celebration queries by drunk visitors with the gory fascination of the toughest element of assistance life.

‘By revealing his war tally in such a community way he will no doubt drag up quite a few of the ghosts of this conflict for other veterans.’

Previous Military Main Wayne Owers, 52, a highly adorned soldier who was discharged with PTSD, stated: ‘As a campaigner for mental-wellness recognition, he need to be acutely conscious of the influence his remarks will have on people he evidently strives to guidance. Harry’s reviews are insensitive and pointless.’

Trevor Coult, a Colour Sergeant who was awarded the Armed forces Cross, warned: ‘There is a cause why most veterans do not like to discuss about what they did in battle and that is simply because it usually takes them back to a quite dark spot.

‘For a so-referred to as mental-health campaigner to chat like this is shameful and his text will induce incredibly numerous terrible recollections for a good deal of traumatised veterans.’

Falklands veteran and previous Royal Marines Sergeant-Key Jeff Williams, 64, of the aid team Veterans United Against Suicide, included: ‘For numerous veterans this will convey back awful reminiscences of killing and getting rid of pals in overcome.

‘I’m surprised that Harry, who is intended to be a mental-health and fitness campaigner, has not realised this. It is crass in the serious.’

Last night, a spokesman for the veterans charity PTSD Resolution, which has aided far more than 3,500 cope with PTSD, said the organisation was operating to ‘manage’ the fallout from Harry’s reserve.