The Ski Hills Are Great Therapy For Our Wounded Soldiers

Billy, a Green Beret, with his wife, Jennifer, on the slopes in Whitefish, Mont. Aisha Chowdhry

Hitting The Slopes To Recover From the Wounds of War -- New York Times

WHITEFISH, Mont. — From a distance, Billy, a Green Beret, looked like any other snowboarder, traversing the slopes with apparent ease. Only up close could other winter revelers see that he had a prosthetic leg.

Billy, who asked that his last name not be used because he is still a member of the Army Special Forces, was wounded in Kandahar, Afghanistan, a little over four months ago. That day, he had cleared 15 explosive devices successfully. But then a device — one he thought he had dismantled — exploded. He lost his right leg from the knee down and sustained injuries to his right forearm and two fingers.

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My Comment: I completely concur with the analysis from this article. When I am on the slopes .... all the problems of the world melt away when you are going down the hill .... and when you hit the bottom, the exhilaration of the finish (and not crashing) makes you want to do it all over again.

Wounded Soldiers Are Finding New Ways To Serve

Badly Wounded Marine Finds a New Way To Serve -- McClatchy News

WASHINGTON — Kurtis Foster knows the cost of wartime service.

"I was wounded a total of five times," Foster said, "but I only got three Purple Hearts."

Count the causes like a cadence: Grenade. Land mine. Homemade bomb.

First, the Oakhurst, Calif., resident took shrapnel to the neck. Then he got tossed from a truck when he and his fellow Marines drove over the land mine. Then, on Foster's third tour of Iraq, in 2007, an improvised explosive device concussed the bejesus out of him.

Foster recalls vomiting a lot. Other than that, his final combat injury is mostly a blur.

"I remember little things," Foster said, "but it's like little clips."

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My Comment: I suspect that he will excel in this new position.