Free Republic

I have just returned from giving a talk on the benefits of Army education to new recruits at the Army Training Centre at Pirbright, Surrey. A red-brick facility with its own parade ground, it delivers the 14-week training course undertaken by all adult recruits when they first join the Army. On completion of the Common Military Syllabus, these Soldiers Under Training (SUTs) go on to learn their chosen trade, which covers a host of military professions ranging from anti-aircraft radar operator and artillery gunner to Army musician. Pirbright trains more than 4,000 men and women a year, and as such...

For James Phillips' sake, the Eagles need to win the Super Bowl. Or his sacrifice was all for naught. "They better win the Super Bowl after all I went through," Phillips said tonight from his hospital bed, mopping the sweat from his brow with bandages that are wrapped around both of his hands. He said doctors have told him that they are going to have to cut off the tips of the pinky, ring and middle finger on his left hand due to severe frostbite. Phillips, of Marcus Hook, worked for 30 hours shoveling snow at Lincoln Financial Field the...