‘You just don’t do it!’: Ex-Royal Marine who lost an arm and leg in Afghanistan says Prince Harry’s claims of killing 25 Taliban should be ‘kept between the guys’ and not shared with ‘civilians’

• Ex-Royal Marine Ben McBean blasted Prince Harry over his Taliban remarks
• Duke writes in his memoir that he personally killed 25 fighters in Afghanistan
• Mr McBean warned that the target on Harry’s back may have now grown
• The prince’s revelation has sparked fury among veterans and MPs 

An ex-Royal Marine today said that Prince Harry should not have revealed in his bombshell memoir that he personally killed 25 Taliban fighters while serving as a helicopter pilot in Afghanistan, warning that he has a ‘bigger target on his back’ after making the startling admission.

Writing in his astonishing autobiography, Spare, the Duke of Sussex says he had neither pride nor regret about firing at the extremists – and admits that in the midst of battle he thought of his targets not as ‘people’ but as ‘chess pieces’ that had been removed from the board.

But the candid remarks have sparked a backlash among military veterans and MPs, with former British Army Colonel Richard Kemp claiming that the Duke’s decision to spill the details in his memoir amount to a ‘betrayal of the people he fought alongside’.

Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain today, ex-Royal Marine Ben McBean – who Harry hailed as a ‘hero’ after he lost an arm and a leg in a bomb blast during the war and yesterday urged the Duke to ‘shut up’ – said that his revelations could have significant security repercussions.

Mr McBean said: ‘He’s already got a big target on his back and maybe it’s grown a bit more. But he’s America, he’s got security… here in the UK they could think we can’t get to Harry but we could go to his old barracks. … you’re always a target anyway, but I just think flaring things up and bringing numbers out doesn’t really help’.

Prince Harry sits with Lance Cpl of Horse Chris ‘Dougie’ Douglass in a Spartan armoured vehicle in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan

Prince Harry meeting former Royal Marine Commando Ben McBean

He added: ‘He’s done all sorts of things. I posted a tweet yesterday saying shut up mate and just enjoy your life if you can now and get on with it. Because it’s not nice when you see a good guy … even though a lot of people give him grief now, what he has done for the country and charities is more than most… so it’s a shame to see where he is.’

Asked what he thought about Harry’s revelation that he killed 25 Taliban fighters, Mr McBean told GMB: ‘If kids asked you have you killed anyone, it might be cool to them, but as an adult you just don’t really do it. 

‘I don’t think there’s a written rule where you can’t speak about it, but if you did it was who was there, it’s between you guys who were there. 

‘To bring it back and speak to civilians about it… they don’t need to know what you’re really up to out there.’

Harry went to Afghanistan twice with the Army under strict secrecy, with generals fearing after his first arrival there in 2007 as a forward air controller that he would become a prize sought by the Taliban if his presence was known.

Eventually he had to be returned home after word got out, but he returned to Afghanistan in 2012 to Camp Bastion in Helmand province with the Army Air Corps, trained to fly Apache helicopters.

The duke’s active military service has long been known to have made him a terror target. The risk is sure to increase now he has declared his personal ‘kill count’ in Afghanistan.

Harry flew his Apache on numerous missions, and could count his ‘kills’ thanks to the video camera mounted on the aircraft’s nose. He would watch the videos of his combat after returning to base.

Mr McBean tweeted today: ‘Love you #PrinceHarry but you need to shut up! Makes you wonder the people he’s hanging around with. If it was good people somebody by now would have told him to stop’

Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain this morning, ex-Royal Marine Ben McBean – who Harry hailed as a ‘hero’ after he lost an arm and a leg in a bomb blast during the war and yesterday urged the Duke to ‘shut up’ – said that his revelations could have significant security repercussions

Picture dated 03/11/2012 of Prince Harry (right) in Camp Bastion

Picture dated 12/12/2012 of Harry making his early morning pre-flight checks at Camp Bastion

Harry claims he hallucinated that a bin was talking to him during a bad mushroom trip in his memoir – click here to read more 

He writes that he saw his Taliban targets as ‘baddies eliminated before they could kill goodies’, The Daily Telegraph reports.

‘I made it my purpose, from day one, to never go to bed with any doubt whether I had done the right thing… whether I had shot at Taliban and only Taliban, without civilians in the vicinity,’ he writes.

‘I wanted to return to Great Britain with all my limbs, but more than that I wanted to get home with my conscience intact.’

The prince says in his book that it was only thanks to his Apache’s modern computer technology that he could say ‘with exactness how many enemy combatants’ he had killed.

‘And it seemed to me essential not to be afraid of that number,’ he says. ‘So my number is 25. It’s not a number that fills me with satisfaction, but nor does it embarrass me.’

Colonel Bob Stewart – a Tory MP who commanded British troops in Bosnia – slammed the comments as ‘distasteful’.

The MP for Beckhenham told MailOnline: ‘I wonder why he is doing such things. Real soldiers tend to shy away… People I know don’t boast about such things. They rather regret that they have had to do it.’

Colonel Stewart, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Order after seven tours of Northern Ireland and leading UN forces in Bosnia, went on: ‘It is also rather sad that a man who has had all these advantages in life seems so intent on destroying himself and the monarchy.

‘I feel really sad for the King. Because the King is a good man. I have met him a few times, he was my colonel of the regiment. He is a very sensitive decent man and this will be really hurting him a great deal, all this furore.

‘I just think it is so sad because so many people have not had Prince Harry’s chances in life, and the whole thing seems to be a bit tragic.’

Colonel Bob Stewart (left) – a Tory MP who commanded British troops in Bosnia – slammed the comments as ‘distasteful’.  Former British Army Colonel Richard Kemp (right) said the Duke of Sussex’s decision to spill details in his upcoming autobiography ‘Spare’ amount to a ‘betrayal of the people he fought alongside’

Harry during his second tour of duty at Camp Bastion, southern Afghanistan, in 2013

Another Tory MP, who did not want to be named, said Harry’s behaviour was ‘bonkers’, adding: ‘He is bringing everything into disrepute.’

Harry said memories of watching the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York on television from his room at school in Eton, then later meeting relatives of victims in America meant he saw the Taliban, which provided a base for the terrorists, as ‘enemies of humanity’.

The Duke adds in the book that his only regrets of his time in Helmand province were attacks he had not made. He recalls how his Gurkha ‘brothers’ came under assault from the Taliban, but ‘contact difficulties’ prevented him pitching in.

Another time, his superiors would not authorise him to fire on 30 Taliban who were blowing up a lorry, he said.

Harry has said the fact that he has been denied armed police security in Britain since stepping back from the Royal Family has been a major factor in his move to America.

He also speaks in his memoir about developing trench foot during Army training in Wales – but marching on regardless.

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