FORT RILEY - Forty-seven Soldiers who went on the Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers trip to Colorado witnessed history.
The BOSS Soldiers saw professional snowboarder Shaun White win his fifth straight superpipe gold medal with a perfect 100 run at the X Games Jan. 29 in Aspen, Colo.
No snowboarder has ever received a score of 100 before that run.
"We got to see that live, and I'm pretty sure I'll never be able to do that again," said Sgt. Erin Shafer, Company B, 601st Aviation Support Battalion, Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. "I've been in three BOSS programs, and this is probably the best BOSS trip I have ever been on. It wasn't something I ever expected to go see."
Sgt. Adam Millican, BOSS president, said the trip might have been the best trip any BOSS group went on.
"This trip is probably the biggest and best trip that Fort Riley BOSS has ever done," he said. "We each paid $200, and we worked it out, and it would have normally cost $3,000 per person to go on this trip."
During the trip, the Soldiers were given special guest passes from ESPN, which offered them priority seating, free meals and drinks and access to heated tents.
"It met all of our expectations and beyond," Millican said. "We didn't really know going into it what special guest passes meant, but we were kind of blown away with everything we got."
Millican said the Soldiers witnessed several firsts.
"We witnessed the first front flip on a snow mobile, the first attempt at a double back flip on a snow mobile, the first 100 score on a men's super pipe (and) the first time somebody's won a gold medal five times in a row on men's super pipe," he said.
In addition to attending the X Games, the Soldiers were given discounted lodging and ski equipment rental at Snow Mass Mountain Chalet, where the Soldiers skied and snowboarded for two days.
Shafer, who had snowboarded on artificial snow in Korea, got her first experience going down a real mountain.
"I wish I knew how to do all of that stuff (that we saw at the X Games), too," she said.
While on the bus traveling back to Fort Riley, Shafer said she was already hoping to go back next year.
"I just hope they keep doing this every year," she said. "I'll still be at Fort Riley, so I want to do this again next year."
For more information on BOSS, call 785-239-2677.
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