Prince Harry doesn't regret "expressing and detailing" his military experiences in his new memoir.
Prince Harry has discussed his military experiences
The 38-year-old prince revealed in 'Spare' that he killed 25 people while serving in Afghanistan, and Harry has now explained why he decided to be so candid about his time in the British army.
He explained: "I don't know that you ever fully reconcile the painful elements of being at war. This is something each soldier has to confront, and in the nearly two decades of working alongside service personnel and veterans, I've listened to their stories and have shared mine.
"In these conversations, we often talk about the parts of our service that haunt us - the lives lost, the lives taken. But also the parts of our service that heal us and the lives we've saved."
Harry has been widely criticised for speaking so openly about the number of Taliban fighters he killed. But the prince insists there's "no right or wrong way to try and navigate" his military experiences.
He told PEOPLE: "It's a duty, a job and a service to our country - and having done two tours of duty in Afghanistan for my country, I've done all I could to be the best soldier I was trained to be.
"There's truly no right or wrong way to try and navigate these feelings, but I know from my own healing journey that silence has been the least effective remedy. Expressing and detailing my experience is how I chose to deal with it, in the hopes it would help others."
In his memoir, Harry likened killing Taliban fighters to "chess pieces removed from the board".
The prince actually also revealed that he relished his time in the military, explaining that it allowed him to escape the pressures of royal life.
He said: "I was no longer Prince Harry, I was Second Lieutenant Wales of the Blues and Royals, second oldest regiment of the British Army."
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