By Kristin Davis 

Matthew Sprenger was still a child when his father foresaw his future. That prediction came true on a day in May 1987, when Sprenger commissioned into the Army Signal Corps through his college’s ROTC program.  

“I always saw you serving,” he recalls his father telling him.  

Military service ran in the family; his grandfather was a World War II veteran, and two brothers served in Vietnam. A sister spent 20 years as a Navy nurse. 

Sprenger had been working in the private sector and serving in the New York Army National Guard for a decade when he was offered active duty special work at the Army National Guard headquarters in Arlington, Va.

“My civilian job was in banking,” he said. “They were looking for budget/accountant folks.” 

With his wife’s support, Sprenger accepted, and he spent the next two decades on active duty in senior financial and budget positions, including Army National Guard HQ's director of Resource Management and chief of the National Guard Bureau's Planning and Capabilities Division and Financial Management Division. As a comptroller, he deployed to Iraq and Kuwait.

He retired in 2017 as a colonel. But that did not mark the end of Sprenger's service. 

Soon after settling in New York in 2020, he received an invitation to a meeting of the Mid-Hudson (N.Y.) Chapter of MOAA. Within two years, he’d become the chapter’s first vice president. He’s been president since January 2024. He’s also the recruiting and retention officer for the New York Council of Chapters.  

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During the pandemic, many ties were lost with local ROTC and Junior ROTC (JROTC) chapters. Sprenger has been working to rebuild those relationships, with chapter members participating in JROTC awards ceremonies to present certificates to deserving cadets and restoring a valuable tradition. 

He advocates for legislative priorities that support servicemembers, veterans, and families at both the state and national levels. Each April, he participates in national MOAA’s Advocacy in Action event in Washington, D.C., meeting with lawmakers as part of the association's ongoing work to advance its legislative agenda. 

The Mid-Hudson Chapter also sponsors and supports the Joseph P. Dwyer Veterans Peer Support Project, a statewide initiative operated under the Dwyer Coalition for Military Veterans & Families, which aims to support the mental health and well-being of veterans and their families. Sprenger hopes to see it become a nationally funded program.  

“I think it’s honorable and necessary to help those veterans who are less fortunate, who can’t speak for themselves, or who don’t know how to speak for themselves,” Sprenger said. “At MOAA, we’re one voice speaking for everybody.” 

He draws on his own experiences to provide counsel to officers and non-commissioned officers who seek it and offers this positive message: “Never give up. Keep working hard, keep your nose to the grindstone,” he said. “If you need assistance, come to me or someone else, but don’t ever give up. It sounds simple, but when you’re in the middle of [hard times], it’s easier to give up than to push forward. But you just have to do it. Good things will happen.” 

Kristin Davis is a writer in Virginia.