World Peace Through Skiing

The scenery here is absolutely beautiful.  We are surrounded by snow capped mountains, it reminds me of Denver.  And, I guess if you consider that the elevation here is 4895 ft, Bargram is essentially the other Mile High City.

Many people, including myself, have commented that many of the problems here in Afghanistan could be solved with a few really nice ski resorts.  To start with, building the resorts would create jobs.  Then the resorts would need to be staffed, creating even more jobs.  The skiing would probably be

 really good so people would travel

here for ski vacations.  That would generate flights in and out of the airport.  Roads would need to be constructed, further stimulating the economy.  With economic stimulus, the people could be fed, housed and educated.  And people who ski are generally happy, which would make them less likely to engage in terrorist activity in general.

The Achilles heel in all of this is that the mountains are probably riddled with land mines, making skiing somewhat less attractive for the faint of heart.  For the diehard skier, the trails could be rated as quadruple black diamond.  You would know you'd had a good run if you made it to the bottom of the mountain alive and with all limbs intact - body armor optional.

In all seriousness, it really makes me a little sad to look out at the beautiful landscape,

knowing that hate runs so deep.

The snow had been melting as the weather warmed up, but the last few days have been cold and rainy.  So, I suspect we will see some additional snow cover once the clouds clear.

The cold weather definitely slows down the tempo here.  And, while on one hand, I would like to be busy and feel like I'm doing my part to contribute to the efforts here, me being slow means troops aren't being injured - it's kind of a double edged sword.

With it being slow, I've had time to redecorate my room.  This essentially consisted of hanging up a flag, which may actually be the most dangerous thing I've done here, since it involved me having to stand on my rolling desk chair.  But, this isn't just any flag - this flag flew with my friend Janette over Iraq in her B-1 bomber during the initial phases of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  (For those of you who haven't been lucky enough to meet Janette, we've been friends since sophomore year in college when we met in ROTC and thought we were queens of the world.)  They fly flags on the flagpole in front of the hospital for people here, but because there are so many requests, it often means that the flag just gets run up and down the flag pole.  So, I opted to hang it in my room instead where it is constantly in view.  It's not quite as sexy as flying in a B-1, but the sentiment in no less real.

P.S.  For those of you wondering, I have yet to be re-united with my missing bag of laundry.  I haven't gotten to the point of going out and replacing the missing items, but I'm becoming less and less optimistic that I'll ever see those clothes again.