just another week in paradise

Well damn, did this week suck for me. To start things off, I decided to lose my temper with one of the upperclassman Cadets who is basically at the top of my NCO chain of command. My training company was accused of not sounding off to the upperclassman in the hallway why on our way out to the morning formation. I knew that was a lie so I spoke up telling the 1st Sergeant "that is total bulls*@t" and in about 2 seconds the company CO grabbed my shirt and she took me down to the third floor and gave me a talking to. I didn't get in trouble but I felt bad for embarrassing the 1st Sergeant in front of all the other freshman. It is hard for me to let the upperclassman yell at me or disrespect me being that I am a combat veteran, and the same age if not older than the majority of them.

Now to top that, my 19 credit hour course load dropped a overwhelming load of assignments on me so I got to spent the time not in class, working out, or doing some Corp of Cadets crap, sitting in my dorm outlining chapters or working problems on paper. this may not seem that bad because it is during the week and that should be devoted to class, but imagine knowing that your weekend will not consist of any fun because the Corps does not allow freshman to stay out past 2300.

As the weekend approached things started to get brighter, till the snow started. Me growing up in Arizona and never experiencing snow, or temperatures below 70 degrees, i really do not enjoy the 20 degree and below temperatures. Then comes the +12" of snow which was not cool at all and made my saturday, miserable. But one highlight of the weekend was the Cadets vs. Civilians snowball fight. Even though we lost, which was expected because there was like 400 civilians and 90 Cadets. But we still had so much fun stealing shields, signs for rushing, rafts, and even someones boom box. The snow was way to powdery to make projectiles so I found it more fun grabbing people and dumping them into the snow.

Introduction to me

Ok, well this is my very first blog post ever and I must admit, I have not the slightest idea what the hell i'm supposed to do I mean I have never even tweeted. First off, my name is Matthew Barnette. I am a 20 year old freshman Army Cadet majoring in Environmental Science. Im sure you know the reputation of the Corps of Cadets, it is by far the most depressing organization here at Tech. I don't get to enjoy the so called "college experience" and I get to spend every day dealing with cocky, overconfident, and extremely ignorant upperclassman Cadets.

You may wonder what made me decide to be a Cadet at Tech, it all started in high school back in good old Casa Grande, Az. I was what many considered a "rebel" in high school, know around campus and town as somewhat of a trouble maker. But I also played 4 years of varsity football, starting all 4 years as a strong safety. My performance attracted the attention of the head coach at Hamline University located in St. Paul, Minnesota and I was offered a full ride to come play for him. This excited me but come the end of the year I hit a wall, I needed a minimum gpa of 3.6 and ended up having a 3.3 so i became ineligible due to the standards set by Hamline. I lost interest in college and knowing that if I stuck around Casa Grande I would end up in trouble, the choice was made and I joined the Army.

I graduated Combat Engineer AIT (Advanced Individual Training) 5 months after graduating high school and 2 months after that my boots touched ground in Afghanistan. I spent a year conducting combat missions in the Helmand & Paktika provinces of the country and in October of 2008 I returned home to the wonderful USA. I am now in the National Guard and continue to train with one of the top Sapper units in the nation. I am looking forward to returning to the war, some people call me crazy, but they will never understand the feeling of fighting side by side with your brothers.

When I have free time I love to listen to music as well as make my own mix's and beats. I am also a devote Paintball player and have been for the past 14 years. I used to play professionally and was ranked among the top in the country for solo players. I earned money through high school by becoming a Referee and eventually Head Referee at the local paintball field. I also love to ride my Gixxer 750, it is something I love to do and when I am stressed or angry all I have to do is turn on the Itouch, and ride where ever the road takes me.

I look forward to keeping up with everyone's blogs and seeing how interesting other Tech students lives our when not influenced by the Corps.