I have worked a deal with the Chicago Daily Herald to be a contributing guest columnist while serving my tour in Afghanistan. I am extremely thrilled to be working with a professional publication, and also to share my stories with friends and family.
Here is my inaugural piece!
Lombard soldier ‘excited to get off the bench’
Editor’s Note: Army Lt. Matt Spartz, a lifelong Lombard resident, is a 2008 journalism graduate at University of Illinois. He recently was deployed to Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne Division. The is the first of occasional reports …

The Gateway to the New South, Clarks-Vegas, is showing signs of thawing. After Brittany doubled my heating bill in January (muahaha) while I was gone, my February bill is down 15 percent, with me here. What better way to celebrate than to shut off the heat, open up the windows and have a little walk in the park.
Every time I think Clarksville is boring I find something new that makes me wish I didn’t have to leave. Most of these discoveries come from my neighbor, Sara, who unfortunately just moved …

One of my favorite Sunday past times is watching the political duke-outs on Meet The Press. Today’s episode definitely did not disappoint. Whereas I do lean to the political right, David Gregory of MSNBC is one of the hardest interviewers on TV.
As David Brooks mentions, Joe Biden’s interview was laughable. I’m not sure he had his usual coffee pick-me-up before the show.
But the biggest knock out of the episode was the proverbial ass-kicking to freshman representative from Illinois, Aaron Schock (R-18). As the now youngest senator ever in the House …

Here I am, finally at Ft. Campbell. This will be a short update with more to follow over the long weekend.
I arrived late Monday and began in-processing on Tuesday. I was planning on doing Permissive TDY (“vacation” days where the Army pays for a place for you to stay while you look for housing). But of course no one told me I needed to request those days on my leave form when I left Ft. Sill and then have it modified here, instead of requesting the days here.
So, I’ve been …

Brittany says blogging while angry is like going to the grocery store while hungry. I’d say it’s more like calling your ex-girlfriend while drunk. Either way, nothing good can come of it.
But here goes.
So I absolutely hate flying now. Currently I’m sitting in the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport waiting for my connecting flight to take me back to Lawton. It was supposed to leave at 7:20. When I practically ran here from my other flight in order to board at 6:50, they said the plane we are taking wasn’t even here …