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Mud, rock, ice and bullets: the basic components of life and death for British fighting troops in southern Afghanistan are a far cry from anything experienced by Prince Harry before his deployment as a forward air controller in mid-December.

While support units often serve out their Afghan tours in the relatively civilised confines of huge bases such as Camp Bastion or Kandahar airfield, complete with laundries, air-conditioning and heating, the day-to-day existence of the frontline forces with whom Harry has been serving has changed little since the first of the three previous Afghan wars fought by Britain over the past 170 years.

During operations Harry will have woken before dawn each day for the traditional period of “stand-to” during which troops stand ready in their positions to repel any potential enemy attack. Once daylight is established the call then comes to “stand down”: a period in which soldiers eat their breakfast and clean their weapons. While British rations are not considered quite as revolting as American MREs, they nevertheless rank way down the list of Nato favourites.

Defecating in the field will be a simple matter of digging a hole near his vehicle (not too near) and dropping his trousers the same as every other soldier. If Harry’s men feel special affection for him they will probably throw small rocks at him while he squats. Helmand is experiencing its worst winter in recent history. Daytime temperatures have been as low as minus 10C (14F). Few of Britain’s armoured vehicles have heating systems, so the cold metal sucks the body-heat from the mounted troops, with the risk of exposure and frostbite for the unfortunate or ill-prepared. For dismounted troops and those on sentry, conditions are even more severe. For many soldiers, laden with body armour, helmets, rifle, ammunition and grenades, patrols are at least a break from the chilled monotonity of occupying static winter positions.

Aside from the elements, the human enemy will have changed a little since Rudyard Kipling wrote his famous Arithmetic on the Frontier, a poem glorifying the Afghans’ martial prowess. Though the Pashtun tribesmen are still the same as those who slew Kipling’s wealthy, public-school army officers with “ten-rupee” jezails, their marksmanship skills have been eroded by the ubiquity of automatic Kalashnikov assault rifles.

The greatest threat to the Prince would have more likely come from roadside bombs or mines than bullets.

At dusk Harry and his men would “stand to” once more, to mark the transition from day to night-time routine. In an alcohol and women-free environment, taking his nocturnal shift on the radio and staring at Helmand’s winter skies, he would have been absolutely correct in reflecting that he was a long way from Boujis.

The Afghan conflict

771 Troop deaths in Afghanistan since 2001 of which UK 89 United States 483 Canada 78 Spain 23

43,250 number of troops within the 40-nation force 7,800 from the UK 15,000 from the US

140,000 Afghan troops deployed

11,000 people killed in the violence

63 UK troops injured since 2007

£1.68 billion Cost of war to UK since 2001

£742 million Cost of war to UK last year

Source: Times database

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