Hazard Ground

Matt Gallagher thought he was just keeping a regular blog of his time spent in a war zone as a way to chronicle daily life as a Platoon Leader during the Iraq War in 2007-08. Little did he know that his blog, aptly titled, “Kaboom” was a much bigger hit on the internet than he thought. His chain of command was even okay with it, until, as Matt puts it, “they weren’t.” And soon the US Army was shutting the young officer’s blog down. But, with the internet being the internet, Matt’s war journal & war memoir-in-the-making never left the internet (you can still find it online today). And what “Kaboom” did was help Gallagher organize his thoughts about the war, provide levity to the daily grind & sludge factory that war often becomes, & help shape an author-in-the-making. Matt Gallagher is now out of the army & is an accomplished author. His work has appeared in “The New York Times,” “The Atlantic,” “The Paris Review Daily” & “Wired,” as well as other publications. Hear how he went from “Kaboom” to novelist on thi