Baghdad Express: A Gulf War Memoir

Turnipseed's book is about, in my opinion, the most noble kind of soldier, a reluctant warrior. Turnipseed had been AWOL for a few months before Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1991. He was a philosophy major at the University of Minnesota, and when he went to Saudi Arabia in January, he brought a number of his books with him. He views the war from his own quirky (and yes, liberal) standpoint, but he also does a good job of looking at it through the lens of the works of Plato, Thoreau and a host of other philosphers. During his time in Iraq, he comes across a number of sympathetic and not so sympathetic characters -- they all spring to life from the pages through his descriptions and dialogue. There are a number of really good reviews on this site that do this book more justice than I do...read them. I really wish they would teach this book at West Point.

"Baghdad Express: A Gulf War Memoir," by Joel Turnipseed, tells the story of a Marine Corps reservist who was activated to serve as a truck driver in the first Gulf War in the early 1990s. The book features illustrations by Brian Kelly. Turnipseed is a bookish misfit who would rather "be back in a coffee shop reading Wittgenstein" than serving in this war. This is a lively and well-written memoir. Turnipseed's witty, thoughtful prose is a pleasure to read--it's a voice steeped in pop culture and keen observation skills. The narrative is full of interesting details about life in a wartime "tent city," events that occurred on truck driving missions, and other aspects of his tour. The dialogue that he recreates is great, especially the very un-P.C. banter between Turnipseed and the other soldiers in the tent known as the "Dog Pound." A place where Plato meets Public Enemy, the Dog Pound is a place for uncensored discussions of race, sex, and political matters. Turnipseed's narrative is not just about war, but also about his struggle to find meaning, refuge, and happiness in great works of philosophy and literature--quotes from which are woven into the text. The text is also enlivened by comic book style sections. Turnipseed takes a critical and satirical tone towards the military, but also celebrates the troops and the unique bond that they share. This book is also particularly valuable for giving us the voice of a reservist in a support job; it's a great complement to the "hardcore" warrior-type military memoirs available. As a reservist in a support job (military postal service) who was called up to serve in Afghanistan, I can tell you that Turnipseed's narrative rings true; it's a highly entertaining and moving work that I recommend to both military and non-military audiences.

"Being bombed is boring." So begins one of the chapters in Joel Turnipseed's book, the best I've read yet about Gulf War I. From sentences like these, one gets the sense that one is in the presence of an author only interested in one thing: the truth. Turnipseed has the rare talent to get that kind of honesty onto the page, and also to make it completely absorbing. I want to compare this book to the movie "Deerhunter" for the way it does not have any interest in shaping things so much as simply showing them to you as they happened in all their raw irony. What makes this book so inviting is that the author has a wonderful sense of who he is, both in civilian life and as a soldier. He combines this with his style of spare honesty and self-effacement that is refreshing and downright fun. Joel does not claim to be brave. He does not claim to have it all together. It is his uncertainty in so many of his life and war situations that makes for the best reading. He etches his fellow soldiers' effortlessly, and you feel like you know them. You finish this book hoping that this will not be the last work from this exciting young talent.

Baghdad Express is a memoir of the first Gulf War written by Minnesota native Joel Turnipseed. Since this came out around the same time as Anthony Swofford's Jarhead, there will likely be some comparisons. There shouldn't be. Baghdad Express is much better. On a very basic level, Turnipseed is a better writer than Swofford is. Baghdad Express is well constructed and follows from beginning to end the tour of duty in Desert Storm. Joel Turnipseed is a different kind of a soldier. More of an intellectual than the prototypical warrior, he would much rather be in a coffeehouse discussing philosophy than in a military caravan. However, Joel Turnipseed is a Marine. He wanted out of the Corps, but never left and now he was called up and activated. When we learn that Turnipseed brings volumes and volumes of philosophy with him to war, we know that we are in for a different kind of war story. Turnipseed was a driver for the Baghdad Express. The Baghdad Express was the largest supply line in recorded war. He would drive up to 600 miles a day in round trips bringind supplies and material to the front lines where the fighting and flying is going on. So while he wasn't a front line fighting soldier, he had a vital role in the first Gulf War. He relates his experiences in the war. Partially an outcast because of his philosophy, he was also included in a group called the Dog Pound. The Dog Pound was mostly African-American soldiers (Turnipseed is white) who loved to talk. Community was build through trading insults and fast moving conversation. Turnipseed's ability to adapt to this and his inclusion into the group (even spouting philosophy and have it listened to) was probably vital to his experience. However, as the war ends and the Minnesota group came back, Turnipseed finds himself slipping out of the Dog Pound that was his home for the duration of the war. This was a very different look at a war because of who Joel Turnipseed is. He writes as a disclaimer that this is a memoir of memory and not of journalism so any mistakes is from what he remembers and perhaps not as everything actually happened....and this is a very honest admission. This is his story as he remembers it. He tells it very well and it is the best account I have read of the Gulf War (Thus far).