splat!

for the first time in my life, i went paintballin'. can you even use that in verb form? well, i heard it as a verb today when i went with 26 students to wisconsin to superior paintball. i had a blast.

for my first day ever, i was able to hit two people right in the mask. there was something very satisfying about seeing green paint go all over their mask as they peeked their heads up from those bunkers. sure, i got other people in their torso but a headshot is ideal.

i found out there is a youth subculture of people who paintball. there were some kids who seemed to be there about every weekend and were really good (they got me a few times).

there was a game in which our team was assigned to storm what they called a castle. the other team was to stay and guard us off for 12 minutes. if we got to the castle and took it over, we won. if we didn't, they won.

i got to a bunker with four other junior high boys. i told them if we didn't storm the castle all at once, we had no chance of winning. as i told them this, i could see the fear in their eyes. they were probably in this bunker the whole time and didn't want to leave. i told them, i'm going to count to three and we're all going to go. there are going to be casualties but we must go. i counted to three, took off running only to find one other person with me.

i have no idea what it would be like to actually be in a war but paintball seemed to be the closest thing. especially as i saw the fear in the eyes in those junior high boys. i know i would never want to be in a war but am very thankful for the united states military who sacrifice so much for our freedom.