Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld chats with retired Army Staff Sgt. Heath Calhoun, a 101st Airborne Division soldier wounded in Iraq, during the Vail Veterans Program. Defense Dept. photo by Donna Miles


U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Joseph Worley, who lost most of his left leg in Fallujah, Iraq, September 2004, is ready to hit the slopes in Vail, Colo., March 4, 2006. The veterans gathered for Vail's Adaptive Ski Program that provided ski and snowboard classes for twenty-four servicemembers who lost limbs in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley


U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Joseph Worley, who lost most of his left leg in Fallujah, Iraq, September 2004, steadies himself with the help of an instructor after his first attempt at advancing to a mono-ski in Vail, Colo., March 4, 2006. The veterans gathered for Vail's Adaptive Ski Program that provided ski and snowboard classes for 24 servicemembers who lost limbs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley


Former Marine Sgt. Christopher Fesmire, who was medically retired from the 1st Marine Division after losing both legs above the knee in Qain, Iraq, in October 2004, whizzes down the tubing trail at Vail Mountain's Adventure Ridge during the Vail Veterans Program. Fesmire, an accomplished snowboarder before being wounded, called the Vail program "very special." Defense Dept. photo by Donna Miles


U.S. Army Sgt. Tim Gustafson prepares to hit the slopes on a "bi-ski" in Vail, Colo., March 4, 2006. The veterans gathered for Vail's Adaptive Ski Program that provided ski and snowboard classes for 24 service members who lost limbs in Iraq and Afghanistan. An improvised explosive device struck Gustafson on Jan. 24, 2005, while commanding a combat patrol on a routine clearance mission in the Diyala Province of Eastern Iraq. He suffered compound fractures and lost most of his right leg to the injury. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley


U.S. Army Sgt. Tim Gustafson, a Tennessee National Guardsman participating in the Vail Veterans Program at Vail, Colo., gets instruction on how to traverse the slopes on a "bi-ski" from Carl Desrosiers, of the Vail Adaptive Ski Program. Defense Dept. photo by Donna Miles


America Supports You member Vail Resort sponsored the Vail Veterans Program March 1-5 at Vail, Colo. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, fifth from left in blue jacket, poses with wounded troops participating in the program just before they begin their third and final day of skiing. Defense Dept. photo by Donna Miles


For more information on Vail's Veterans and adaptive skiiing programs, go here or here.