Book Review: Wine in the Sand

Wine in the Sand, by Jim White

I am generally not a fan of stories of wars or memoirs of soldiers. I never served in the military -- too young for Vietnam, too old for anything else -- and quite frankly didn't miss it. I'm not sure I could have survived. I tend to avoid violence and consider myself mostly a pacifist.

So I looked at this book -- a tale of White's time in the Air Force during Desert Storm -- as a kind of adventure, feeling I could read it with an open mind because I know the guy who wrote it.

And you know what? I liked it.

White is kind yet cocky, laid-back but intense (he once finished an unofficial triple Ironman, with the support of many friends, because he wanted to), friendly, generous, and witty. So is his book.

What I expected from a memoir of war was lots of heroics, ramped-up violence, gung-ho feats of daring-do, cynicism of the highest order. It's none of those -- OK, there is just the teensiest bit of sarcasm -- but instead it's chock full of tales of guys just trying to survive the best way they know how, trying to do an impossible job, and looking for the best in themselves and others.

It's a weird little book: Short chapters (I like; it makes for quick reading), no page numbers (didn't like), strong, explosive writing, and black-and-white Polaroid pictures.

See? I do know the guy.
 And Karen Minzner,
who took the cover photo,
is a great photographer.

White writes of his involvement in the lead up to Desert Storm -- his unit of fire fighters was one of the first sent to Saudi Arabia after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. He writes of their survival and new experiences in a strange land. He writes of skirting the edges of military rules and regulations, and of driving hours through the desert to find his true love. The book is mostly one of good times. Even when he gets serious about three-quarters of the way through, he finds the positive.

The absolute fear of dying violently during a SCUD missile attack? Hey, it's just an extended version of the Fourth of July fireworks, with a little homemade wine on the side.

So, about the title. Is it a play on "line in the sand," which President Bush used to defend the initiation of the Gulf War? Or was it used because Wine on the Desert was already taken?

I need to know.