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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Last week we had a hasty visit from the top of the food chain when GEN Petraeus stopped by for the standard “grip n’ grin” session with ABU company. After our battalion finished closing another base here in the Pech he flew in to solidify our reputation as the biggest BAMF’s in Afghanistan.

Here my CO gets a COIN from the bosses bosses bosses boss…I think… He gave out coins to guys for various things, including having three years or more deployed. One of our guys was even in the 101st …

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 …

Here’s the scenario:
A C-17 holds 158 passengers. There are over 500 people waiting for flights to Bagram. This place averages two flights a day. One flight from last night was canceled.
I believe this is an ACT question in which the answer is: Not getting out of Kuwait anytime soon.
Getting here was relatively straight forward but anything but painless. The jumbo jet the government commandeers for cost-effective military transport is probably the oldest, most cramped in any modern fleet. It’s like flying in that old, broken down jet from Transformers 2. …

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 …