Prince Harry’s “Kill Count Admission” Hits Home and Misses the Point
Prince Harry’s bold confession unveils war’s complexities, but fails to grasp the devastating impact of trauma on veterans
The first question asked upon returning home from Afghanistan was, “Did you kill anyone?” The question caught me so off guard that I stuttered for a few moments before replying, “Excuse me?” They changed the subject, and I went about greeting my family. I’d been home a grand total of ten minutes, but the question tormented me and was repeated over the years once people discovered I had fought in Afghanistan and the 2006 Battle of Ramadi. Each time someone asked, I always changed the subject.
The sniper teams I worked with in Ramadi, however, knew their kill count to a tee. They’d keep tally-marks scribbled on faded and peeling walls inside their rooms, but never talked about it. One sniper I often patrolled with even had an alleged 56 confirmed kills. In reality, his number was closer to 65 kills, and along with his spotter, the two racked up over 100 kills in Ramadi alone during their tour of duty and subsequent battles. A fellow sniper from 1st Infantry Division confirmed this data some fifteen years after I returned home from Iraq, and I’m sure many wonder why he doesn’t have a book deal. I suppose…
