Would that the children of America's leaders follow the fine example set by Prince Harry.

An American.

William B. Rogers, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA

Good luck to Harry and to ALL our men and women who fight for 'freedom' against terrorism. God willing they all return home safely.

Steve, Catford, UK

I am an American and just want to thank the Prince for his service. I hope that more young people in the U.S. will be encouraged and inspired by his willingness to put everything on the line to protect the blessing of freedom that we enjoy so much but often take for granted.

Ron, Chappaqua, NY, USA

When reporting in real time on military matters relating to actual combat, all journalists, editors, columnists, reporters and others in the media need to have in mind the sombre motto -

THE SOLDIER'S NEED TO SURVIVE TRANSCENDS THE PUBLIC'S NEED TO KNOW.

J G Wishart, Edinburgh, UK

US presidential candidate John McCain's son, a US Marine, just returned from 7 months duty in Iraq.

Alan, New York, NY

AR Birmingham

Perhaps you could tell us of your combat experience - you obviously feel well qualified to comment - or is it just TV experience?

FYI - Mine was 12 years in the army.

R Bingham, Lauzun, France

Prince Harry is brave enough to serve the army on the frontline of a warship. It encourages other youths and especially the families had sent their relatives to fight for peace! Harry has done a good job!

hurriarc, FuZhou, China

The royal family are true leaders.
Harry, you are a man of men.

Sgt. Robert Travis USMC Ret.

Sgt. Robert Travis USMC Ret, Warwick , Rhode Island USA

Quoted by R.Pieles, Southport, Merseyside (he's german by-the-way)

"A very brave young man who has set an example the youth of the UK should be proud of and I hope they follow in his footstep"

I hope that every youth will NOT follow this example or be proud as there is nothing to be proud of other than to be killed or to be a killer. This is the wrong example that has been set up by a clown prince who was no where near the danger zones and was left to make the tea and coffee for the real soldiers returning from their day killing.

brian, scotland,

One more thing! Lester Hay summed it up perfectly for me.

Why do we automatically assume that HRH was there under false pretences? Surely the safest thing to do would be to keep him at home? And don't forget his uncle flew documented combat and rescue missions under fire in the Falklands War - get off the Harry's back and convey him the same honour any of our armed forces deserve. It wasn't his fault he got sent home early, which as far as I can tell is 2 weeks out of 14 early - which is not that early!

Finally - the media needs to take a long hard look at itself over its role in this story. Which I know it won't so I'll stop here.

Adrian Eunson, Luanda, Angola

A prince on a crusade to fight the forces of evil threatening his people.
People actually believe that? People actually believe he's ever been in danger?

Laurent, Reading, UK

Who freaking cares. The media shoul dbe ashamed of themselves for breaking this news. There should be bounds that are not crossed.

James, Northern, Virginia, USA

he is great, i hope he can be safe.

Daisy, Tianijn, China

All England should be proud of the Prince. He spent 10 weeks in harms way. That's 10 weeks longer than any member of the Bush family has spent in either Iraq or Afghanistan. 3 Cheers Harry!!

George Bear, Milford, Maine , USA

Our Royal family has had a tendency at times to bring disrepute on our country and monarchy. Yet, here we have a young member of that family doing nothing but discharge his duty as a soldier as directed by the Government, and most of the feedback on this is negative. Let's not forget the fact that our right to provide negative feedback to our government and monarchy has been won from the blood of our armed forces, whoever they may be, or whatever their background. Throughout history British kings and princes have died defending our way of life, just as less elevated people have. Why don't we celebrate the fact that we have a young royal doing this soldierly job than seek to denigrate the imagined motives for him doing so. As far as I can tell from the media, no-one goes to Helmand for a holiday. Ask the soldiers what they think - I am sure they would much rather have one (maybe cosseted) Royal amongst them than the approbriation that is often heaped on them from home. Get Real.

Adrian Eunson, Luanda, Angola

I am not british... I am egyptian
But I am still proud of prince Harry.
He could have chosen to sit on the palace and spent his last 10 weeks comfortably but he chose to support his country and went to the frontline... I am proud of you.

noha, Cairo, Egypt

Does the public swallow this bilge. Here's the storyline. Part one. Hero Harry, secretly defending the UK against (insert your own devil), has his cover blown by a fiendish unnamed foreign media swine. Part two. In the blink of an eye the media get a massive publicity package showing Harry's secret activities. Where did all this footage come from? Was it orchestrated and shot weeks earlier as a PR exercise? Once in the media's hands they were free to add any voice over spin they choose. Personally I liked the shot of gung-ho Harry firing a few practise rounds on a machine-gun. When it jammed a burly soldier lent over Harry and fixed it. Later the same shot, minus the helping soldier, carried a voice over implying Harry was under, and returning, fire.

Is the final act to be a medal for this glorious campaign, not the Victoria Cross of course but something of high standing?

Red, Cape Town, South Africa

Prince Harry has set the example for his generation and it is commendable. Patriotism is not just for old people. As an American this would be as moving as the son of the President going and fighting for his country. Good show Harry.

Dorsey, Richmond, VA

Lester May - well said indeed! Nelson, Wellington, and Churchill would be proud of him. There's still a bit of British left in the British...

James, San Francisco, California

i think it was very dangerous that harry has been to afghanistan. he could have been killed, even if it was in a safe place and not in a real frontline. but in my opinion, this shows everyone that he really wanted and still wants to do his work in the army and to go in war zones. well done harry, i think your family will be proud of you!

anna, treviso, italy

A token stint. A convenient media leak. A return unscathed . A hero. Aha.

alan, cologne,

I have a great amount of respect for the royal. I wish him and his family many happy returns.

Rico, Fargo , North Dakota USA

Good on you, Harry. While your courageous service will draw both positive and negative comments, don't let the the negative comments trouble you. You have not only put yourself in harms way, along with your mates, and everyone with a useful brain knows that your forced withdrawal was a necessity for the protection of your mates. No one, but a fool, paints a target on his back, before walking through a minefield. Be very proud of yourself - you richly deserve it.

David, Minneapolis, USA

Harry has shown that he is a responsible and brave young man....but that hair??? Have standards in the army fallen that low that he is allowed such a mop of unruly hair?

Viv, London, England

A foolish display of Royal Manhood is what we mainly have here. While it is probably true that we have a quarter century of struggles with radical Islam ahead of us we do not have to make more enemies than is necessary. In the end this will come down to winning hearts and minds and the sooner we start at that the sooner this will end. We have to use wisdom and philosophy to win this war. There is a gigantic divide between appeasement and unwise shows of bravado.
The end result here is that the Royal Family and prince Harry now are at a much greater risk of being targeted by radicals.
While it is true that the prince showed courage and set an example the price was too high at this point. In the long war ahead, there will be a time in the future when we will need all our young men and all their courage.
As for the Drudge report that blew the cover, send the man responsible to fill the vacancy double time.

Andy, Sacramento, California

mohammed, you shouldn't want him coming back safe because you're scared of islamophobia. yes i'm a christian, but i don't hate muslims. if you love your religion, you just ignore the people that practice islamophobia against you. i'm not a devout christian, but my parents consider me christian. my mom is an anglican, who married my catholic dad, and i don't oppose any other religions beliefs and stuff. i'm sorry about the situation of muslims in the UK, but remeber be proud of what you are

siale, stockholm, sweden

Who cares?

"Prince Harry" is a chap who could be Harry the unemployed neighbour living in a council estate should the
head of state was chosen on the basis of meritocracy. How deeply unfair and undemocratic?

John, Sheffield,

shame on the media for ratting harry out......why not let him get on with it???

john, harlow, England

Harry has left Afghanistan; the only NATO soldier who considered life there normalcy. Poor Harry is back in the drudgery of the palace, where some of us would wish the challenge of finding a sense of normalcy there.

Ken Warren, Victoria, Canada

I do not understand the international media's obsession with reporting all of the details of Prince Harry's deployment. Is it because nowhere else on the globe is there a "high level" western individual deployed in battle? Or is this simply illustrating the media culture's obsession with celebrity? Either way, the Prince Harry coverage as it has been puts everyone who is deployed in jeopardy. The enemy would clearly want to kill or capture him to use as a propaganda tool to rally their side. What an absolute abomination it is that the international media has gotten this far out of control. Can they not make such a simple and logical conclusion? It's the media's obligation to present the news, not make it by creating an unsafe situation that could lead to the death of people so they can report it later. For shame.

Kevin W., West Seneca, NY, USA

I am quite impressed by His Royal Highness and applaud his service. As an American, I am appalled and outraged that his location was leaked. It is a lousy way to treat our allies.

Michael Davies, Bel Air, Maryland/ USA

Welcome back Harry.Leave the job to real soldiers who dont have the option of deserting their post .,Patrolling through an abandoned village or firing a machine gun into "taleban position" in a very relaxed manner did'nt fool me ,good pics and vids for folks at home.I was more impressed with Ross Kemp and his visit to helmand.The huge desert camp base provides ample chance of escape should that "frontline" fighting got uncomfortable.Iraq ,oh you didnt go there! the danger was too concentratred.This was a PR stunt ,our soldiers are dying and being wounded ,on return they are soon forgotten.All this media attention on one person reminds me of RAMBO in Afghanistan, what a hero!

AR, Birmingham,

A very brave young man who has set an example the youth of the UK should be proud of and I hope they follow in his footstep.This should set the Royal Family in a different light..
Both, Prince Harry and William have inherited the best of what was English, makers of an Empire that spanned the world and left legacys around the globe.If only the English M.P's had the same set of balls.Be proud of what and who you are.

P.S. I'm German by the way.

R.Pieles, Southport, Merseyside

Some of the comments here, and elsewhere, from my fellow Britons are disappointing indeed. No thought that they will be read by our troops on the front line, no thought that they will be read by those ill-disposed to our country.

Many who are using the story for a chance to have a swipe at the monarchy still are unable to show support of our troops, whatever their background. Shame on them.

As someone who spent 22 years in the armed forces, I am able to say I'd rather serve with a few royals than I would 100 of the weak, miserable, hate merchants and conspiracy theorists, who, sadly, seem to populate our islands and seem not to understand the concepts of honour and patriotism.

Well done Prince Harry and a curse on those who caused his early return to the UK. A salute to all those who are serving overseas in the broad cause of democracy and nation building. The fight for freedom is a noble cause and one that has allowed those Britons who dislike our monarchy to say so.

Lester May, London NW1, UK

Over here in the Lost Colony it looks to me that the blowing of the prince's cover by what we are told was a premature news feature was planned and deliberate. What a nice face-saving way to bring him safely home.

A photo on today's Der Spiegel's site shows him unhelmeted, and perhaps without his body armor with, what I can only believe to be, his Gurkha protectors. They are fully suited up in body armor and helmets.

Frederic J. Feingold, Hillsdale, U.S.A. / New York

The fact is that prince Harry went to Afganistan to kill Taliban fighters. Who can stop the Taliban from bringing the war in the UK and target prince Harry and maybe other members of the Royal family or high ranking polititians.

adam, Bristol, uk

yeah let's not forget that there are plenty of other people still out there fighting and dying pointlessly (on both sides). I couldn't really give a monkeys that Harry was there in the first place or is home now. You join the army, you should get treated like everybody else (which, to his credit, is what Harry wants). I think the whole thing was engineered anyway.

Jack, Leeds,

I kept you in my prayers Prince Harry and I thank God you made it home safely. Hope all soldiers make it home very soon and that awful war will come to an end.

Debboe, Lexington, SC, USA

The heroe is back, thanks god.
uaaaau...

Álvaro, maia, portugal

It's a shame that the mainstream media decided to 'out' Harry; he seemed to be having a good time over there, and was doing good work in the war on terrorism...

Rico, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Thank god he wasn't hurt and is back home safe. Just think about how much Islamophobia and hatred Muslims in UK would have suffered if anything had happened to him...
....unthinkable.

Mohammed, London, UK

Not that they don't already suffer...b.t.w

Mohammed, London, UK