former army captain matt gallagher spent 15 months in iraq. he began blogging about his experiences soon after he arrived in 2007 as a lieutenant. his blog was enormously popular with fellow soldiers. then in 2008, the army shut down his blog. last year those stories were published so as a book called kaboom." so author matt gallagher joins me now from new york. thank you, sir. good to see you. doing okay? >> good to see you. yeah, absolutely. ha thanks for having me. >> you are the senior writer on the iava. matt, the question is, what's going through your head now? you've been there, the troops are coming home, you see the remaining troops will be home soon. how does that feel? >> very surreal time. i'm sure not just just for myself but all veterans of iraq. not being there, there's a sense of closure, of course, but seeing the images of the bases where when i was there 150,000 americans were there, now complete ghost towns. it's a very odd feeling. >> let's be honest here. if anyone has had a chance to travel over the last couple of weeks a

gallagher, my thanks to former congressman joe sestak, zainab, phyllis and matt gallagh gallagher, getting an mfa at columbia in writing. >>> coming up next is "weekends with alex witt." join us tomorrow, sunday morning at 8:00 when dave weegle joins us. until then you can find us at up.msnbc.com. have a safe and happy new year's eve. we'll see you in 2012 next year, tomorrow morning. [ female announcer ] crest 3d white was recognized by marie claire as one of the 25 beauty products that will change your life because it whitens by removing up to 80% of surface stains. see how it can change your life. crest 3d white. life opens up when you do. yeah, our low prices are even lower. we need to teach her how to walk. she is taking up valuable cart space. aren't you, honey? [ male announcer ] it's our biggest clearance event of the year where our prices are even lower. save money. live better. walmart. of the year where our prices are even lower. living with the pain of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis... could mean living with joint damage. help stop the damage before it stops you with h