Joker One

Starred review from October 6, 2008
Campbell decided as a junior at Princeton that attending Marine Corps Officer Candidate School would look good on his résumé. Three years later, in the spring of 2004, he was in Iraq commanding a platoon known by its radio call sign, “Joker One.” Campbell tells its story, and his, in an outstanding narrative of the Iraq War. Joker One counted around 40 dudes: country boys and smalltown jocks; a few Hispanics and a single black. Some were college men with futures; some had pasts they preferred to forget. The battalion was assigned to one of Iraq's worst hot spots: the city of Ramadi, where faceless enemies found shelter among 350,000 Iraqi civilians. Joker One fought from street to street, house to house and ambush to ambush for seven straight months. By the end of the tour, “even the Gunny's hands had started ceaselessly shaking,” Campbell writes. Faced with urgent life-and-death decisions, Campbell had learned that “there are no great options... you live with the results and shut up about the whole thing.” For all his constant self-questioning, Lt. Campbell brought Joker One home with only one KIA—a record as impressive as his account.

February 1, 2009
Chronicling his experiences in Iraq, Campbell movingly portrays his love for the men under his command, and theirs for each other.

His debut memoir also depicts the war's effect on the author's faith and hope, shaking the former and shattering the latter as horror after horror befell the Marine platoon that went by the call name Joker One. During a seven-month tour in Ramadi, capital of the Sunni-dominated Anwar province, Lt. Campbell and his company were on hand to witness the critical intensification of hostilities between Coalition forces and the Iraq insurgency in the spring and summer of 2004. The velvet-glove treatment Joker One at first extended to the locals, rather than winning them loyalty and respect, earned the Marines a reputation for being soft. While the Americans mistakenly believed they were merely caretaking the transition to Iraqi rule, the insurgents were arming the masses, threatening heads of household with retaliation against their families if they didn't allow their homes to be used for weapons storage. On the morning of April 6, 2004, in place of the daily call to prayers, Ramadi awoke to the repeated call of"jihad" emanating from loudspeakers on mosques around the city. Campbell and his men soon found themselves in a hellish situation, forced"to make horrible choices, day in and day out, until it seemed like no matter what path we took, we lost." Yet during their baptism by fire Campbell observed and recorded numerous acts of heroism and selflessness among his comrades in arms, a diverse group of young men whose collective strength was greater than the sum of their individual weaknesses.

An accessible view of combat on the ground and a valuable supplement to big-picture histories of the war's first year.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

November 15, 2008
Campbell does not come from a military family. Enhancing his résumé served as his sole reason for attending Marine Corp Officer Candidate School between his junior and senior years at Princeton, and he thoroughly hated the ten-week experience. By graduation, however, he recognized a challenge in the marines unavailable to him in corporate life. His book presents his experience as platoon leader of Joker Company in Iraq. From March to September 2004 this company of 120 marines fought insurgents in and around Ar Ramadi in a classic urban counterinsurgency within a city of 350,000 civilians. Outnumbered, outgunned, and lacking heavy weapons and air support, these marines patrolled the city, enduring countless ambushes and suffering many casualties. Through their efforts, Ramadi never fell into insurgents' hands, and the marines retained control of the city's major streets and government institutions. Campbell provides a gritty, down-on-the-street account of hard, house-to-house fighting against a foe that could disappear to attack another day. He also presents the physical and emotional toll that such combat inflicts on individuals. Through it all, Campbell shows that the men of Joker Company lost neither their humanity nor their humor. Highly recommended for all libraries. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 11/1/08; for a Q&A with Campbell, see p. 78.]Stephen L. Hupp, West Virginia Univ., Parkersburg

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