MERCIFULLY, few people will know what Colin and Edna Giles, and the rest of their family, went through during Friday morning.

The seven hours which stretched between the 3am phone call telling them their son, Robert, had been wounded in a shoot-out with bank robbers in Basra, and the follow-up at 10am to reveal he hadn't been killed, will be the longest of their lives.

Mr Giles' description of the incident and the Irish Guard's wounds suggest that luck played the biggest part in deciding whether he returned home on a casualty evacuation flight or something infinitely more sombre.

The actions of Lance Sgt Giles' and his colleagues also brings in to sharp focus two particular thoughts.

Jingoism and ill-expressed patriotism are responsible for the "Brits know best, Yanks know nothing" attitude in many areas of our domestic media.

Nevertheless, there is something about your average British squaddie, the way he goes about his job without the need for a "yee-hah!" or a high-five, which sets him apart from other coalition troops.

What's more, in a city still largely dejected by Worcester Warriors' wrecked bid to secure promotion to English rugby's top flight, Robert Giles' story puts life into perspective.

Desperate though we are to see the Warriors succeed, keen as we are that Worcester City's season will not fizzle out, happy though we'd be to watch Worcestershire take all cricket challenges before them this year, the greatest news so far this week is that Robert Giles is safe, if not yet well.