Joel Turnipseed

Hard core marines would probably not approve of this book. Because as a marine, Turnipseed is something less than gung-ho. His approach to the military life is much too casual. Of course he's telling only about his tour in Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf war, where he was a truck driver/mechanic with a philosophic bent - along with a bent sense of humor and seriously skewed world view. By the time his Motor Transport Battalion out of Minnesota was deployed to the Gulf, Turnipseed had already been in the USMC Reserves for several years. At the time of his activation he was lounging his way through the University of Minnesota, majoring in (what else?) philosophy. His enthusiasm over being reactivated knew bounds, if you know what I mean. But he didn't feel that this particular little war was worth going to Canada for. So he packed one of his seabags full of books and substituted cigarettes for his pipe and was off to Arabia. For a kid who got knocked around and bounced around between divorced parents and uncaring step-parents and grandparents, I have to admire this guy. He straightened himself out. Looking at the kind of marine he is by 1990, it's hard to believe he was a boot camp honor grad, but he says he was. While it's true Turnipseed never saw combat, you gotta understand that MOST of the troops in that short-lived little skirmish never saw combat. It was mostly a kind of remote-controlled war filled with countless hours of boredom broken up by marathon sessions of self-abuse. (Read Swofford's Jarhead.) As a military memoir, this is a very strange animal. This Turnipseed guy, while maybe (at least in some people's minds) a disgrace to the Corps, is a very thoughtful and a very funny guy. I liked this book.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the Cold War memoir, SOLDIER BOY: AT PLAY IN THE ASA… (altro)