The most conspicuous item at the base of Mt. Hood Meadows may not have been the skateboard ramp, demo booths or stage surrounded by thousands of sunburned fans. Instead it was the

Myles Hallen follows up the US Open Win with a Snow Job Win.

giant, inflatable Marine-part of the US Corps' traveling recruitment booth. With their Humvee, chin-up challenge, and custom-made dog tag shwag, there was military in the mix of On Board Entertainment's third annual action sports/rock n' roll cocktail.

Even the music underscored the point with Metallica's "For Whom The Bell Tolls" the day's unofficial theme. In the Bud Light tap room, MC Russell Winfield quizzed Staff Sergeants Jones and Rehkpof about current events, and why they would market their mission to fun-lovin' shredboarders. "We want to get out information about Marine Corps' opportunities," Jones said, "I've been in the service for eleven years-enlisted right out of high school. I had never seen snow until I was stationed out here in Portland. Adventure is what the Marine Corps provided for me, the chance to do and see other things."

And kill them?

"We sponsor the X-Games," Rehkpof said with diplomacy. "So our office thought this would be great as well. Usually at a major event we get one or two recruits signed up."

"They did an outstanding job organizing this, I'm having fun," Jones smiled.

Any Marines storm the slopes?

"My executive officer just got done snowboarding as well as marketing, promotions and the supply sergeant. They were all lovin' it," Rehkopf said.

"Look at it this way-" Jones defended their position, "I'm done working in twenty years-retiring at 38."

Such is the theory. But for now Snow Job is a work day. It's not easy entertaining a restless crowd of five thousand, but On Board Entertainment was up to the Lollapaloozian task. There was an all-day embargo on boredom in place, the hardest thing was keeping up with what went on. Local act American Girls opened the stage in the morning and Zebrahead, Goldfinger and The Flys (in heavy rotation on Portland radio) kept the swells high for crowd surfers, once past the posted disclaimer, "Enter Mosh Pit At Own Risk."

Industry demo booths had brisk business keeping the hordes hooked up.

A talented turnout of skateboarders livened up the debut of Red Bull's custom Vert Ramp. Even Burnside locs were coaxed from out under the asphalt to the mountain, prompting one photographer to note, "They won't go anywhere for anything, but they'll come up here for free beer."

Indeed, the hopheads of St. Louis, Missouri kept thirsty VIPs from parching in the spring sun.

Jake Brown from Sydney, Australia made the stop to skate while touring the states, "That was a fun ramp," he said, "I'm just up here to show the snowboarders what skateboarding is all about."

And how did he find the venue?

"I like skating out in the snow because it's cooler," Brown said. "Plus we got to snowboard for three or four runs, we had some fun. It just takes a while to learn edge control. After that you can do anything you want."

Especially with the thick La Niña snowpack at Mt. Hood Meadows. In T-shirt weather under cloudless spring skies, Hood was heavily layered in corn and mashed potatoes. The riding was so good it made it hard to sit around and watch. It's a Snow Job life for us.

"You got to hold onto that board! This ain't rollerblading!" Russell Winfield roasted competitors in the OBE Big Air Series final, which included stops on the east coast and in Tahoe. "I'll take it in the qualifiers but in the finals you gotta hold onto that thing."

Travis Parker didn't seem to have a problem as he charged through a variety of tricks, "It was fun. Went by quick. Everything was perfect about it, the weather, super-steep landing, which doesn't happen very often on park hits-and I landed two solid tricks."

That included a solidly stomped frontside 900 to the delight of his mom Carol, and the Stimilon judges working with special guest Tim Windell. "I like to save the practice for powder kickers," Parker said "I've only landed a couple frontside nines-glad I stomped one in the contest. I don't know the secrets of judging, I just try to do progressive tricks and have a good time." Chances of that improved greatly when Parker placed second.

Alaskan Jason Borgstede, on top of a few big air comps was fresh off the King Of The Hill in his home state. After leading the field with a second on Race Day and first on Freestyle Day, Borgstede claims judges misinterpreted his moves on Extreme Day, the results of which landed him a disappointing eighth. "It's pretty rough. A little bit of a heartbreak when you have it that close and it slips away," he said.

From there it was back to work at Snow Job, where Borgstede hoped experience would score him better, "By way of good results, big air is my specialty. That's why I did the King Of The Hill-to prove I'm a freerider, not just a jumper, and to bring the title home to Alaska."

From the looks of the highly charged, multiply spun finals, other riders worked more aggressively, but none had Borgstede's solid stompings or confidant poise during spins or flips.

"I have a trick, the backside 900 tail-grab I use that in qualifiers to get one under my belt," Borgstede said "It's still up there as far as tricks, it feels good. It's nice to get a landing out of the way and get more used to the jump. It's not that challenging anymore because I've done it a lot. And they start to score you lower because they've seen it, which is unfortunate but it happens."

That it does-winning in big air can be elusive-a combination of strategy, crowd approval and the constant push for progression. For not pushing another rotation beyond one of the hardest tricks you can do, Borgstede ended up in third behind Travis Parker and winner Myles Hallen-whose style the east coast judges perhaps found more familiar.

In the women's division, Kim Bohnsack was the only girl to take on the big air ramp at Vegetate a few weeks earlier. But even her smooth, stuck method-to-fakies were no match for another big air specialist, Jamie McCleod who simply flipped the crowd's lid.

"I'm not one bit mad at you rodeo girl," Winfield said of her stomped roundhouse 540. The same could not be said for passengers on the Yellow Chair which ran beside the course, past a gauntlet of snowballs from every direction. Even the Bud Man refused to take flight, cowering by the judges' stand even when he said his red and blue costume was "snowball-proof."

Though headliners The Flys threw down a cover of Marilyn Manson's "The Dope Show," a snowball may have been the most malevolent weapon on hand. Along with brother Adam, lead singer Joshua Paskowitz (youngest of "the freaky Paskowitz family tribe of eleven surfing Mexican Jewish nomads"), revealed that even a jaded L.A. band on the road wasn't immune to the on-snow festival's charms. He also confirmed my suspicion since hearing the band on even sponsor 94.7 NRK-that they're Black Flys family.

"We came in from Austin this morning so we're so dejected, tired and embroiled in bitterness-a tight acrid ring of bitterness around my xiphoid," he said. "Then the kids come out and it's real genuine. It was really great with the mountain, the people-all the beautiful, little people. It always seems like the kids save it."

Awash in the sun, snow and fun, I had an idea: Arm the Trenchcoat Mafia with long boards. Send NATO in to take the Kosovars heliboarding. Poach Serb powder lines with Apaches.

Maybe it was sunstroke, but I could've sworn we had a few recruits of our own. "I haven't tried snowboarding yet but I'm going to try it and I might like it," Staff Sergeant Jones told us earlier. "I might become a professional snowboarder after I leave the Marine Corps, who knows?"

Who knew? I certainly didn't when I signed up at an early age. I hope to never retire. I asked the Marines if they could imagine a world where sideways adventures replaced all the military ones. "Oh wow!" Staff Sergeant Rehkpof marveled. "That would be a wonderful life, man."

Not life, dude. Lifestyle.

OBE Big Air Series Finals, presented by Bud Light

Men's Big Air Results

1. Myles Hallen
2. Travis Parker
3. Jason Borgstede

Women's Big Air Results

1. Jaime Macleod
2. Kim Bohnsack
3. Jacqui Berg