Baghdad Express: A Gulf War Memoir

by Joel Turnipseed

In early summer of 1990, Joel Turnipseed was homeless—kicked out of his college's philosophy program, dumped by his girlfriend. He had been AWOL from his Marine Corps Reserve unit for more than three months, spending his days hanging out in coffee shops reading Plato and Thoreau.

Then Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.

Turnipseed's unit was activated for service in Operation Desert Shield. By January of '91, he was in Saudi Arabia driving tractor-trailers for the Sixth Motor Transport Battalion—the legendary "Baghdad Express." The greatest logistical operation in Marine Corps history, the Baghdad Express hauled truckloads of explosives and ammunition across hundreds of miles of desert. But on the brink of war, Turnipseed's greatest struggles are still within. Armed with an M-16 and a seabag full of philosophy books, he is a wise-ass misfit, an ironic observer with a keen eye for vivid detail, a rebellious Marine alive to the moral ambiguity of his life and his situation.

Developed from Turnipseed's 1997 feature article for GQ Magazine, this innovative memoir—simultaneously terrifying and hilarious, equal parts Catch-22 and Catcher in the Rye—explores both the absurdities of war and the necessity of accepting our flawed world of shadows. With expansive humanity and profane grace, Turnipseed finds the real-world answers to his philosophical questions and reaches the hardest peace for any young man to achieve—with himself.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Memoir, Travel, Humor, Military Fiction

203 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Joel Turnipseed now lives in Minneapolis, MN with his wife and children.

Reviews

[Timothy Bazzett · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Kaushik Rai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joel Turnipseed's Gulf War Memoir: A Baghdad Express is an excellent read. Published in 2003, this book has made its name across multiple magazines. The story takes place in the middle east, highlighting the conflict between the United States and Saddam Hussein's Iraq. The protagonist of this fiction experiences difficult transitions from leaving to the Middle East to transitioning units. For any enthusiast of war or history, I strongly recommend this book. This memoir is truly eye-opening, illustrating the situations of soldiers in the war.

[Grace Bergstrom · Rating 4 out of 5]

As war memoirs go, this one is pretty good-- honest, thoughtful, funny, terrible. He captured how boring war was for him while also recognizing the horrors of it, the hidden desire to see something terrible coupled with the relief that he didn't have to do anything much more terrible than drive trucks

I really appreciated the comic/ graphic novel sections as well

[Kølin Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe it was the nature of the Gulf War, but I had never read a war book that featured so much boredom- the ennui made this a unique recollection of war. There was also some humor and some try-hard philosophy, but I got what the author was trying to do. Overall, I enjoyed this book, but I doubt I'll remember much about it in a year.

[Macy Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Turnipseed is an engaging narrator of his experiences transporting ammunition in the Gulf War. He doesn’t shy away from honesty about the US Marines, but he writes with humor, warmth, and reflection that made this an enjoyable read.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent. Better than Jarhead, I thought. Has some cringey moments, particularly some of the dialogue, but on the whole was worth the read.

[Thomas Perscors · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Joel Turnipseed does a good job of capturing the mad humor of military life. I read the book on the subway while taking my daughter to daycare and every morning she'd ask why I was laughing so hard. It is really funny. It also has moments of profundity. Joel Turnipseed is known by his fellow marines as the professor, a man given to somber philosophical meditations - primarily through Plato and the American Transcendentalists - on the farcical nature of their situation and the need to maintain a trust in truth and right. There are many memorable passages, here is one from near the beginning:

"I had nightmares all through my youth about running from an exploding car. Just flat-f*ck streaking down a highway in the middle of nowhere. I told my mother about these dreams once when I was a teenager.

"Those weren't nightmares," she said. "Your father left me with the payments on the trailer and a 1963 Pontiac. One day, when I was driving you and Mikey to daycare, it caught on fire. I had to drag you and carry Mikey across the highway before it burst into flames."

I took to philosophy to build, brick by unassailable brick, a bunker of truth, inside which I could work on the greater labor of building an unassailable happiness. This was the only thing that mattered--and I had a sense, heading to war, that I would somehow complete this task in the desert, where wisdom had always been achieved." (pg. 26)

[Patrick O'Hannigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was on its way to a lukewarm review as a better-than-average-but-ultimately-forgettable war memoir, until Lance Corporal Turnipseed accidentally plowed his semi-trailer into an unforgiving sand berm and was forced to spend the night stranded in the desert. Discovering his plight, his buddies respond as though they were cast members in a remake of "Angels with Dirty Faces."

Despite being on the tail rather than the tooth end of the American war machine, the Marine reservists of the Sixth Motor Transport Battalion are a lot like their combat counterparts. Most of the people in this book would also have been at home in the classic 1953 Leon Uris novel, "Battle Cry."

The poignant moments in this memoir owe Turnipseed and his Gunnery Sergeant no little debt. Without the fish-out-of-water conversations between the philosophical author and his streetwise tent-mates (Gunny Benson foremost among them), this loosely-organized collection of anecdotes has all the potential of an unused ammunition round. But with those conversations, Turnipseed's story becomes an exhilarating riff on profanity, pathos, and humanity. The Marine Corps motto, "Semper Fidelis," morphs into "Fido," but that's okay

[Ryan Page · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would like my life back. The only reason I didn't stop reading it was because I was stuck in the middle of the desert in Yuma AZ, doing some training. And I could not find anything else to do in my free time.

The author whines about everything and tried unsuccessfully to speak about combat philosophically.

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was required to read this book for a class on War and Culture. The professor managed to convince me why this book is useful as a primary source... that said, unless you're really, really interested in the Gulf War I wouldn't deal with this book. Turnipseed is awfully full of himself and drops academic quotations like they're going out of style. I found the narrator annoyingly self-aware and a little too certain of his own smarts.

That said, it is a useful look at the war and the reality of soldier life in the Gulf, a personal perspective, etc. I suspect that there are more enjoyable memoirs fro the war, however.

[Kelly B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, it was okay. I wish it was better, but it just didn't have the same momentum as the others. The Gulf War just wasn't as crazy as this war. And that is a good thing. I am glad it wasn't as traumatic as this war--don't get me wrong, but this book just was not as interesting as other war memoirs that I have read. Am I an asshole for thinking this? Maybe. But I'm willing to be an asshole.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Turnipseed's tale of serving in the first Gulf War (Marines reserve, driving a truck) is entertaining. And a true story of an average person caught up in a war that he does not personally seem to witness is always interesting. The writing seemed to be a bit self-conscious at times, however, and the reconstructed dialogue seemed a bit too polished.

[Nick Alden · Rating 5 out of 5]

My over look of this book is that it was a really good book. It explains and describes the conflicts and battles of the time period during the war. This book to me shows the heart and determination of the soldiers that go over seas to fight for our country. I would recommend this book to anyone who like either war books or books that have to do with the marines.

[Skyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I very mush enjoyed this book while I was reading. It is filled with great humor and insight from a very contradictory character. The only reason I don't give it a higher rating is because it has a couple boring chapters but it's all true as far as I know so to improve them would be embellishment.

[Bill Littell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Turnipseed is clearly bright and his voice is unique and sometimes poetic but too often, the memoir tries too hard and ends up being quite self-serving. This said, I like his willingness to tell the "war story" differently.

[grundoon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not-at-all-typical midwestern philosophy major/wannabe writer Marine reservist is called up to Desert Storm service. A nonconformist's view of life in the rear echelon - your tax dollars at work, folks hailed "heroes", laid bare.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Similar to Catch-22, as the cover proclaims, but not nearly as good. It does have it's moments, though, and it does offer a view of the 1st gulf war.

[Christian Bauman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The original bohemian war memoir...required reading.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

would have expected a bit more about life in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War but I amssuming tha Turnipseed did not see that much of it. I grew weary of his philosophy and quotes.

[Priscilla · Rating 1 out of 5]

So. Bad.

[Kristin Boldon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A way-different war memoir.

[Brian Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, a non typical war book and coming of age story

[Devowasright · Rating 4 out of 5]

remember that other gulf war?

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read it for the Rear Ech perspective

[Wasi Rizvi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully written book about nothing really happening.