Prince Harry 'not on traditional royal tour' as Captain Wales joins Australian Defence Force

The Commanding Officer of Darwin's 1st Brigade told reporters that the UK's Prince Harry was "not on a traditional royal tour", as the Prince started his month-long secondment with the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

Prince Harry, or Captain Wales as he is referred to in the British Army, started his secondment with the ADF with the 1st Brigade in Darwin on 6 April, after arriving in Canberra and flying to Darwin later that day to report for duty at Robertson Barracks.

"Captain Wales, when he is attached to the 1st Brigade, will work with various units across the brigade and that will also include detachments to NORFORCE as well as to an aviation unit. I would emphasise that this is not a traditional royal tour. Captain Wales will be attached to this brigade as part of a long standing series of exchanges between the Australian Army and the British Army going back to the 1970s where members of both armies are exchanged for periods of time to exchange lessons from training and from operational activities to the benefit of both nations' armies," said Commanding Officer, Brigadier Mick Ryan.

The North-West Mobile Force (NORFORCE) is an infantry regiment. Its area of operations includes the entire Northern Territory and the Kimberley region of Western Australia, covering 1.8m km<sup>2, the largest of any military unit in the world.

Some of the units included in the 1st Brigade are: Armoured Regiment (Main Battle Tank), 2nd Cavalry Regiment (Armoured Reconnaissance), 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (Mechanized infantry), 7th Battalion, 8th/12th Medium Regiment, Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery, as well as combat regiments.

"The brigade, with its combination of unique capabilities based in a very different climatic part of Australia, offers a range of experiences in the Australian Army that he can't get anywhere else. It is a unique place, it's a unique brigade and when he is attached to the brigade, we'll be very happy to welcome him as a member of the 1st Brigade," added Ryan.

Ryan could not confirm if the Prince would fly helicopters during his attachment with the brigade.

"Well when Captain Wales is attached to the brigade he may fly but that will be under the discretion of the commanding officer of the aviation unit. We have world class combat aviators here and they will be able to make decisions based on that," he said.

Captain Wales has flown as a British Army Apache helicopter pilot in two tours of Afghanistan, between September 2012 and January 2013, Australian media reported.