“I’ve got pretty thick skin but I’m still human underneath,” he said. 

Matthew will join 500 competitors from 18 nations in Sydney from October 20-27. There are 72 other athletes in the Australian Invictus Games Squad.

The Invictus Games is an international adaptive multi-sport competition for serving and former serving military personnel who've been wounded, injured or become ill during their military service.

Matthew joined the army as a rifleman in 2004 and was deployed overseas on peace keeping operations in 2006 and 2007. He was injured in East Timor in 2007 and medically discharged in 2008.

Matthew sustained a spinal injury during operations to catch former Timorese rebel leader Alfredo Reinado.

While he lives with ‘mild day to day pain’, Matthew said keeping active has aided in the management of his injury. 

At the Invictus Games Matthew will compete in rowing and athletics. He is also the indoor rowing captain to help motivate, prepare and guide his team mates to ensure they are happy and healthy at the event. 

His coaches have designed a ‘busy’ but ‘well thought out schedule’ to balance Matthew’s training for each sport. 

Matthew trains morning and night and has one rest day a week. 

For athletics Matthew will run in the 200 metre, 400 metre and 100 metre relay events. 

His rowing events include a four minute endurance row and one minute ‘fly and die’. 

Matthew said he is most looking forward to the challenge of the ‘fly and die’ event. 

“It’s called that for a reason,” he said. 

It is an event where seconds are crucial and the smallest mistake can eliminate a competitor. 

Matthew uses music before competition to completely ‘zone out’ and help him mentally prepare. 

When he is not training, Matthew keeps active through his job as a forest technician with Forestry Corporation of NSW. 

“I like being on my feet and the active work helps me with recovery,” he said. 

A lot of his recent work has involved fighting fires in a number of areas, including Grafton. 

Matthew said he would struggle to balance his work, family and training commitments if he didn’t have the support of his family, community and colleagues.

Matthew’s wife and their 11-year-old twin boys will be in the crowd at the Invictus Games to cheer him on. 

His sons have inherited their dad’s competitive streak. 

“They will race each other to see who can eat their dinner the fastest or get up the stairs the quickest,” he said. 

Matthew said is wife is his ‘rock’ and has been a great support and help for him during the Invictus Games journey. 

“Without her I would not have got through the selection process,” he said.