Matt Gallagher: Kaboom: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War

It’s one of the skills you need in Iraq. And the differences are subtle, to be sure. But a keen eye, properly trained, can distinguish between an IED and an unspooled cassette of Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet.

Gallagher joined the Army in 2005 and deployed to Iraq two years later with a commission in the armored cavalry. His platoon, nicknamed the Gravediggers, was based out of Saba al-Bor, in the northwest fringe of Baghdad Province. Kaboom evolved from Gallagher’s popular blog, which chronicled the Gravediggers’ endless patrols, encounters with IEDs that turned out not to be IEDs, and attempts to keep various Iraqi factions at peace with each other. But after an entry in which Gallagher vented his frustration over an unwanted promotion away from his platoon, the blog was shut down by his chain of command.

Kaboom continues and expands the story told in Gallagher’s blog, following real-life characters like Pfc. Cold Cuts, Capt. Frowny-Face, and Sheik Banana-Hands through the tense, muddled world of counter-insurgency era combat operations in Iraq. Gallagher provides a ground-level view of what soldiers do every day, covering topics such as the Army’s stifling bureaucracy and the curious phenomenon in which captains lose 10-50 IQ points in the process of being promoted to major.

Following his fifteen-month deployment, Matt Gallagher left the Army in 2009. Originally from Reno, Nevada, he now lives in New York City.