Teaching is a lot like undercover law enforcement and military combat, says CVCC Information Technologies instructor Bill Barnes. “You make order out of chaos,” he says with a grin.
Fighting for the U.S. Army in the jungles of Vietnam introduced him to chaos on the battlefield. His second dose of adrenaline came as an undercover cop investigating organized crime in South Florida in the 1970s and 80s. Back in the day of Miami Vice and fast cars, super fast cigarette boats and tons of illegal drugs, some of his investigations were featured on episodes of “ America 's Most Wanted” and “COPS.” But you probably wouldn't recognize him, thanks to modern video technology. Undercover cops don't live long if their identities are compromised.
Twenty years of fighting the bad guys and still enthralled with careers involving firearms, Barnes served a brief stint as a civilian contractor stationed in politically unstable countries like Haiti and Africa . He's not even allowed to talk about a couple high risk assignments.
Somewhere in the middle of all that excitement, Barnes discovered his talent for working with computers. His passion for learning new things, reading and research made it a perfect fit for his next—and current—career: teaching. |
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