"I simply could not put it
down-marvelous storytelling. This book makes you want more. Aside from
being incredibly funny, S.D. Turner honors America's soldiers past and
present. I could see A Soldier's Tale of Combating Hangovers being
adapted into a mini-series."
- MAJ Donald "Captain Hand-grenade" Vandergriff, MA, FRSA, US Army (Ret)
A
Soldier's Tale of Combating Hangovers: Debauchery Before the Internet
is the funniest damn book you'll ever read about the military. S.D.
Turner, in his debut memoir, brilliantly captures the mood and spirit of
life in the early 1990s. After signing up for the Army's delayed entry
program at sixteen years old, he found himself at Kentucky's Fort Knox a
week after his eighteenth birthday. As a new recruit, the story starts
with him running from irate drill sergeants and ends with him running
from 1,800-pound angry bulls in the cobbled streets of Pamplona, Spain.
Part
One follows his 4-month training cycle where the recruits are at the
hands of the drill sergeants and every torturous, but funny punishment
they can dole out. Having come from a long line of service members, S.D.
Turner breaks down the hysterical irony of it all in perfect fashion,
as he masterfully puts the encoded world of the military into a language
that civilians will understand and service members, young and old, will
appreciate. It's a page-turner that will have you wanting more.
Part(y)
Two finds our author stationed in the beer capital of the
world-Germany. As a newly minted soldier on his first night in Europe,
he wasted no time in drinking too much, as he defiles a First Sergeant's
boots with pizza and beer. Follow along as he finds his first
experiences, like driving on the famed Autobahn, mostly-naked, in a
10-ton Army truck, and with an audience of French tourist buses, are
usually down-right laughable. He guarantees you will look at soldiers in
trucks very differently. Beer fests, an unauthorized weekend in
Amsterdam, being chased by the German Polizei and Military Police in one
night all happened before the advent and proof of the internet.
Aside
from being laugh-out-loud, the story, interestingly, is not all beer
brawls and bull fights. The subtle theme is the author's reflective
quality on character and the bonds of brotherhood that were developed,
while their mostly innocent and youthful spirits soared in the moment.
As WWII was less than a half-century removed, the rich European history
they lived and breathed was not in the least lost on the author. S.D.
Turner and company literally walked the hallowed footsteps of Patton at
the Battle of the Bulge, slept in barracks still adorned with Swastikas,
and hiked a section of the D-Day invasion.
The humor is a
constant throughout the book, but the subtle theme that every service
member can appreciate, is the one quality that defines them as soldiers,
airmen and airwomen, marines and sailors-adaptability in every
situation. The author has seemingly pulled back the curtain into not
only the past, but into a world about the military that few knew
existed-the funnier side of all the guns, guts, and glory.
America
is wrought with warrior heroes, and having only combated hangovers in
Europe, the author pays a fitting tribute to the humor of life as a
soldier. Sit back and enjoy this hilarious and unbelievable journey and
meet some of his closest brothers in the storyline, as they regularly
hold reunions.
