Prince Harry
spent 10 years in the British Army serving as Captain Wales and now
he's taken on an important mission, supporting injured members of the
military and wounded veterans through their recovery.
With
the second Invictus Games kicking off in May, the hundreds of service
members and veterans from around the world participating will be
showcasing their strengths in new ways.
"Good Morning America"
co-anchor Robin Roberts caught up with Prince Harry at a military
facility in Aldershot, England, where Team Great Britain was training
for the Invictus Games' swimming competition. She also visited with the
fifth-in-line to the British throne at Kensington Palace to discuss just
how important this latest mission is to the royal.
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“No
one wants sympathy. All they want is an opportunity to prove
themselves, and that's what this is all about," a visibly moved Prince
Harry, 31, told Roberts, of the Invictus Games, which he launched in
London in 2014.
The
Prince is active on a number of charitable fronts but working with our
heroes is at the top of the agenda for this spring. The second Invictus
Games will take place May 8-12 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex
in Orlando, Florida.
Injured
servicemen and women from around the world will compete in everything
from cycling, wheelchair basketball and rugby to sitting volleyball and
swimming.
"Some
of these guys should be dead," he said. "Never before have we had so
many amputees survive from such unbelievably traumatic injuries."
"I'm
now lucky enough to watch someone who should be dead run the 100
meters," Harry continued. "You want a definition of inspiration? That's
probably it."
Prince Harry's Army Inspiration
Prince Harry joined the British Army in May 2005 and rose to the rank of Apache helicopter
commander before leaving the Army last year. The British Defense
Ministry named Harry the best front-seat pilot, or co-pilot gunner, in
February 2012 from his class of more than 20 fellow Apache helicopter
pilots.
“Ten
years in the Army was the best escape that I've ever had, an escape
from all sorts of intrusion," Prince Harry said of his decade-long
service. “But I also felt as though I was really achieving something. I
felt as though I was part of a team."
"All
I wanted to do was to prove to other people that I had a certain set of
skills," he said. "All it's done over those 10 years is given me this
amazing amount of knowledge and experience where I am now perfectly
positioned to be [service members] voice and champion their cause.”
Prince
Harry has done precisely just that, becoming an advocate for the
wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women. He is their biggest
supporter, working in a personal recovery unit.
The
royal has said he was inspired to start the Invictus Games after
attending the Colorado Warrior Games with British service members in
Colorado Springs in 2013.
Invictus
means unconquered. The goal of the Invictus Games is to use the power
of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and gain a wider
understanding and respect for just what service members are struggling
with.
“I
get inspired by them," Prince Harry said of servicemen and women. "How
could you not be inspired by them, just by seeing what they do."
For
Harry, he says there was a significant moment after his first
deployment to Afghanistan that changed his life. The royal served two
tours of duty in Afghanistan during his time in the British Army.
“I've
been extracted after 10 weeks of my first tour in Afghanistan. I'd done
everything I could to get out there. After 10 weeks, I got extracted,"
Harry said. "Literally, being plucked out of my team and, yes, there was
an element of me thinking, 'I'm an officer. I'm leaving my soldiers and
it's not my own decision.'"
"I
was broken," Prince Harry told Roberts. "I didn't know what was going
to happen to them and then suddenly I find myself on a plane that's
delayed because a Danish soldier's coffin was being put onto the plane."
He
continued: "Then, while I'm sitting there, I look through the curtain
in the front, and there's three of our lads wrapped up in plastic,
missing limbs.”
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