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Lombard soldier shares end of deployment

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.

As the orange sun began to sink below the jagged mountain range, throwing silver beams across our outpost and deep shadows on enemy fighting positions, 7.62mm bullets began snapping a few meters from the covered porch where we were sitting. Our company#146;s replacements from the 25th Infantry Division looked at each other wide-eyed, not sure of what was happening as they scrambled for their weapons.

As I casually walked to the door of the operations center all I could utter was, #147;Let#146;s get the party started.#148;

The day before I began my journey out of Afghanistan, this would be my last encounter with our elusive enemy. It was hardly the first of its kind, and far from the most dangerous. But it was the first prolonged engagement for the new unit at Combat Outpost Honaker Miracle, and the first they would handle completely on their own.

A few weeks before a unit ends its tour of duty, the new unit arrives and teams up with their counterparts to get trained on their new area of operations, the things that have worked in combating the enemy and helping the government, and they slowly take the lead.

During our last fight I couldn#146;t help feel like both the old combat vet and the student instructor in the Army#146;s best classroom. I watched as my replacement took some of the techniques I showed him and put them into action, and then made them his own. I counseled him on the most effective way to suppress the enemy with mortars, as well as dropping two bombs from F-15 jets.

I will not miss dodging snapping bullets in the fading afternoon. I won#146;t miss wearing flip flops in the shower and its super-chlorinated water. I definitely will not miss eating the same meal every third day, or wearing the same clothes every single day.

The list of things I will never miss about Afghanistan is probably too long for any newspaper. But there is one thing I will miss #8212; aggressively doing the job the Army trained me for.

I will miss the simplicity of isolated combat life. I spent a recent afternoon apartment shopping online from Afghanistan, looking for a new apartment near Ft. Campbell where I#146;ll be stationed at least until October.

Thinking of all the tasks involved in moving and all the new bills to pay was dreadful. It was serenely Thoreauvian to live at the edge of civilization, regularly making decisions with the most serious of consequence, and not worrying about groceries and cable.

Being one of the last remaining soldiers of our unit, and watching a new unit take over our battle space, there isn#146;t much else to do but rehash war stories. Every bullet retold comes closer and closer, the enemy more numerous in each telling.

#147;The worst audience for a war story is a witness,#148; one of the platoon leaders chided during a particularly egregious telling. However, these also serve a purpose. Like anecdotes for small children, we can only hope the soldiers taking up our mission don#146;t touch all of the hot stoves we#146;ve warned them about. If we have to convince them the stoves are a little hotter than they really are to prevent a few more burns, so be it.

I#146;m sure I#146;ll never forget this place as long as I live. I#146;ve completed the mission I really set out to do when I joined the Army more than four years ago. As important as it seemed then, it has turned out to be much more important with every year.

Now we gladly roll up our guidon for the last time, tap our brothers on the shoulder and let them take the lead. But as we leave I hope to never forget that even though I will soon be home, thousands of new troops are starting the most dangerous mission of their lives.

My chapter has ended. But the story continues. Godspeed.