Class of 2005

In Afghanistan, soldier LIZ HUNT makes no promises.

Hunt says she joined the military because she wanted a mental and physical challenge. Mission accomplished: She hasn't had a day off from work since January. A first lieutenant in the Chemical Corps of the U.S. Army, the rural lowa native began her 15-month deployment to Afghanistan at the beginning of the year. Hunt will go without weekends or holidays until April 2008—and in the meantime, she'll continue to begin her days with a 5 a.m. workout. Hunt participated in ROTC while at Dartmouth and began her active service duty a month after graduating. She is now the base operations commander for the Forward Operating Base (FOB) Salerno, where she oversees all base operations. She often interacts with local Afghans, either through her oversight of local interpreters and work crews or screening locals who enter the FOB.

"The locals come to me whenever they need something," Hunt says. "They invite me and my soldiers over for lunch, we eat, talk, have a good time and then they serve green tea and start hitting me up with requests."

Hunt's interaction with locals has taught her the ins and outs of negotiating. "They don't like hearing no, so often these meetings require a lot of compromise 'I'll give you 15 gallons of fuel but I won't hire your brother,'" Hunt says. "And definitely do not make promises—they remember every promise ever made to them. I will go over for a meal and hear about a promise made four years ago that still hasn't been fulfilled." Carolyn Kylstra '08