Lombard soldier returns to civilian life this Veterans Day
Editor’s note: Army Lt. Matt Spartz, a lifelong Lombard resident, served a one-year tour that ended in May with the 101st Airborne Division in Afghanistan. From there, he provided reports for the Daily Herald on topics ranging from his own wounding to our troops’ reaction to the killing of Osama bin Laden. His final day on active duty is Saturday. Spartz is a 2008 journalism graduate of the University of Illinois.
Last Veterans Day my hands were shaky. I sat in the concrete …

At last, I present to you…
The epic ABU VIDEO!
 
 
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Editor’s note: Army Lt. Matt Spartz, a lifelong Lombard resident, was deployed to Afghanistan in May with the 101st Airborne Division. A 2008 journalism graduate of University of Illinois, he is submitting occasional reports for the Daily Herald.
For some time I have thought if I were writing something, it should be worth reading. During the past few months I hadn’t written much, and in fleeting moments I simply figured I didn’t have anything left worth reading. I also had a shadowy fear that I …

A curiosity of living in a mountainous valley I had not experienced was living within a cloud. From our outpost I can see thick mist roll across distant peaks, slowly fogging them from our view. Slowly the days dim without you fully realizing the weather is coming, not that the day is leaving. Soon the uppermost peaks are shrouded in thick white cloud and mist begins to fall lightly on your sleeves. Finally the sun sets to impenetrable darkness while the clouds continue to fall lower and lower. You think …

Well I’ve been much busier than I bargained for, so here’s the first 2011 update:
We had a few (possibly too many) guys on R&R the last month, so I’ve been filling in for nearly five different jobs. It wasn’t terrible, just that taking the ball while running was a lot like drinking from the fire hose.
The only real update in the past few weeks, however, is that it has finally gotten cold enough to show some snow. I realized I hadn’t really updated any photos since, like, October. I’ve gotten …

Editor’s note: Lt. Matthew Spartz, a lifelong Lombard resident, has been writing columns for the Daily Herald since his deployment to Afghanistan. Last week, he was wounded in a battle that claimed the lives of six American troops. He shares the details of that fight in the Pech Valley.
I faced my greatest fear in the sky-scraping mountains of the Pech Valley’s Taliban training havens, and now that fear no longer scares me.
My greatest fear was not death. I’ve been incrementally inoculated from the …