Hemingway's guns

[King Brown]

Under the circumstances, his faculties gone, like an old samaurai he fell on his sword. I don't fault him for that; except for the noise and mess, almost an act of grace. I wouldn't have enjoyed his company. His writing, of course, was often peerless. Martha Gellhorn was a better reporter and better person. My father imbibed wisdom at Stein's on Rue Madame, and my Paris friends have an apartment a few doors away.

Put it down to chauvinism: his posturing was so insufferable to me that I take some pleasure from the Canadian writer half his size, Morley Callaghan, giving him a boxing lesson in Paris, knocking him on his ass. Hemingway blamed Fitzgerald, the timer, for extending the round beyond three minutes.

I worked in the company of Callaghan and his son Barry, now also a distinguished writer. But for all that, the No. 2 print of Karsh's famous turtleneck photo of Hemingway watches over my desk. He inspires still.

[Steve McCarty]

I wonder how the mythical Hemingway compared to the real one. He had an image of himself that he worked hard to create. I think, that when he saw himself slipping he just could not live with his new self and me made that mess in the foyer.

He was only 61 when he died, but he looked 80. Was it the booze, or the concussions that he had one after the other? He was nearly killed in two plane crashes and after one he butted the door open with his head. Dura fluid ran from his hears.

I enjoyed Valeria Hemingway's book about her relationship with him. I thought it more insightful into what made the man tick that either Baker's or Hotchner's bios.

Good, evil, talented, selfish or no; Hemingway lived a life to be proud of. Was he a good man? I don't know. But he's been kaput for 61 years and we're still talking about him, that says something.

[Steve McCarty]

Originally Posted by King Brown

Under the circumstances, his faculties gone, like an old samaurai he fell on his sword. I don't fault him for that; except for the noise and mess, almost an act of grace. I wouldn't have enjoyed his company. His writing, of course, was often peerless. Martha Gellhorn was a better reporter and better person. My father imbibed wisdom at Stein's on Rue Madame, and my Paris friends have an apartment a few doors away.

Put it down to chauvinism: his posturing was so insufferable to me that I take some pleasure from the Canadian writer half his size, Morley Callaghan, giving him a boxing lesson in Paris, knocking him on his ass. Hemingway blamed Fitzgerald, the timer, for extending the round beyond three minutes.

I worked in the company of Callaghan and his son Barry, now also a distinguished writer. But for all that, the No. 2 print of Karsh's famous turtleneck photo of Hemingway watches over my desk. He inspires still.

Mr. Brown; your father was at Gertrude Stein's apartment in Paris! What interesting stories he must have told! Do you recall any of his pearls of wisdom that she imparted? When I ponder Stein's writing I think of the Rose times 3 and what a lousy place Oakland was. I can't recall reading anything that she wrote. Nor do I recall how she and her brother Leon made their money. Did they have a fortune? They were from SFO as I recall.

Hemingway, in the late 50's went back to his Parisian haunts and even found one of his favorite waiters, who recalled him and brought him to his old seat. I visited Sloppy Joes fifty years ago when the original owner still owned it and it was like it was when Hem knew it. He pointed me to Hem's favorite bar stool. It was to the left of the pass through. Today that place looks nothing like it did in the 60's.

The Pilar still lives, but sits on dry land behind the his Cuban home that is now a museum, but you can't go inside. Tourists have to peek through the windows.

Just this morning I was reading a collection of Hem's hunting stories. Yes, indeed he still does inspire.

[King Brown]

". . . and Hemingway, whatever else he knew, knew for all time that the questions he had in a lifetime were answered, and those that remained were no longer of any consequence."

Last words of Hemingway, a life without consequences by James R. Mellon

Steve, conversations with Stein at the time often circled the failure of capitalism and the promised utopia of communism. My father engaged in spirited debates that included the anarchist Emma Goldman and Louise Bryant, widow of John Reed who wrote Ten Days That Shook The World. He returned to Canada as a Communist.

Any one who wasn't thinking that way at that time wasn't thinking at all.

[Steve McCarty]

King: I've been reading Three Soldiers by John Dos Passos. It's not exactly a page turner. He was one of Hem's cronies and was one of the reds who visited the Steins. Dos Passos however, while an avowd communist during his Parisian days switched and became an equally avid Nixon supporter. His relationship with the Soviet Communists had been an explicit one and turned him away from Stein's false utopia.

The movie Reds was based on Reed's work. And yes, Armond Hammer was a spy. So was Alger Hiss.

I read Ruark and Hemingway side by side and read the new remembrance of Ruark written by his secretary. I like to compare the two men and find much alike between them. Ruark lived in Hem's shadow and he knew it and he did not like it.

I'm not sure that Hemingway saw life as a problem to be brooded over, but rather as a challenge not to be conquered, but to become wrapped up with. He, and people in his family, before him and after, suffered bouts of depression. He drank his way through them, which made them worse, of course. Proper medication would have helped the old boy.

Was your dad Dee Brown?

[King Brown]

No, my father was Kingsley Brown, same as mine. As so many others, he broke from CP before the war because of its anti-Semitism. Politics of the time were byzantine as revealed by Hemingway's Bell Tolls. Some things never change. It generally boils down to who's going to feed at the trough.

[Steve McCarty]

Originally Posted by King Brown

No, my father was Kingsley Brown, same as mine. As so many others, he broke from CP before the war because of its anti-Semitism. Politics of the time were byzantine as revealed by Hemingway's Bell Tolls. Some things never change. It generally boils down to who's going to feed at the trough.

King: What is going on today in the political arena is not child's play.

I have always found Europeans shockingly anti-Semitic, and the Brits not far behind. It appears to me to be ingrained within their cultures. The Merchant of Venice is telling.

Hemingway was known as being anti-Semitic, calling himself Hemingstein as some kind of a joke. I catch the scent of growing anti-Semitism in the air, here, today. Strange.

[Steve McCarty]

King: I just googled you and find that you did extensive work on women in the military. I was "in" from 64 to 94.

I was a drill sergeant at Fort Jackson in 1981/2 when the Army decided to train women right alongside the men. It was a disaster! I complained to the colonel and he gave me some PC BS and I'm still riled about it.

Just a few comments: Training women in the infantry alongside men short changed the men and brutalized the women. Training women in infantry like settings was out of place for the girls and you never saw such a room full of long faces when you were instructing about the care and usage of hand granades, for instance. Men on the other hand loved being soldiers (most of them) and got right to it. Women and men are genuinely different and the military should cotton to that fact!

During the VN War I was an attack pilot in the Marine Corps. We were hard chargers. There were no women around, except in those places where one would expect to find them. Women in the fighting units cannot enhance the fighting spirit of men in combat.

I have to admit that I've been "out" for a long time and when I left active service in the Marines in 1980, women were just beginning to make inroads into the squadron, but not as pilots. When I later joined the Army Reserve there were quite a few women being trained in infantry type environs. In addition, all of the women, dolls or no, became pregnant in pretty short order. One just cannot put young men alongside young women and not expect nature to make its way. This caused all kinds of problems. Problems that we did not want to have to deal with, but we had no choice.

I believe, however; that there is a place for women in the military, but in more feminine roles. I am not being "sexist", but realistic.

One last thing. When I was a company commander in a training battalion in the army infantry we had a female regular officer who was part of our battalion. This young women was as pretty as women get. She was about 22 and had her uniforms taylored. This beauty could really fill her BDU's! Blond, blue eyed and one hell of a jock! She was a 90 lb bundle of energy. She was also the fastest soldier on the obstacle course in the entire battalion.

We had a young 2Lt fellow who was as good looking young man as the lady was female. He was the second faster GI on the OC. He was rendered unusable because he was so enamored by the lady, who was trying to be a "Soldier" and was trained to ingore all feelings of the flesh. It was sad to watch. I felt sorry for the young man. If I had been 22 and not 42 I would have been in the same place that he was.

Oh, I also had a female trainee die in my arms...almost, but I carried her to the ambulance. She died soon after. Women could not take the heat while humping heavy packs! We lost quite a few women as heat casualities. So what did the army do? Why they lightened the loads of course! So the men too carried less which reduced the effectiveness of their training.

When men are in combat their relationships with women should be in the abstract. When the bullets are flying having women around is a distraction that they do not need.

[King Brown]

Speaking only from experience as a reporter covering mean places with mortar and directed fire all around, female colleagues did perfectly well and if truth be known may have been a calming influence to get our heads in gear. In Afghanistan, our women soldiers participated in the heat of battles, and Capt. Nicole Goddard, almost a neighbour, was decapitated while directing artillery fire against Taliban. I'd demean her by describing her looks. Just say you could take her anywhere. She would have been be an adornment in salons of the world.

With profound respect for your country and military, the US has been a slow learner in what works and doesn't, who can serve and can't serve their country. It has been isolating itself from the realities of war to the extent of now endangering its own survival. It is learning that technological superiority doesn’t necessarily convert into military success. It is coming to terms that the cost of wars of choice aren’t worth it. As Gates said on his departure, anyone contemplating another of these things "needs their head examined."

Canada, which paid dearly for choosing Afghanistan's most dangerous sector in Kandahar and which your country has now taken over, regards its women as equals in all branches of the services. The results speak for themselves. US elite forces welcomed us as partners in combined operations in Afghanistan, particularly sniping assignments. I also found that any notions of chivalry disappear under fire. Thank god yours and ours are coming home.

[Steve McCarty]

Originally Posted by King Brown

Speaking only from experience as a reporter covering mean places with mortar and directed fire all around, female colleagues did perfectly well and if truth be known may have been a calming influence to get our heads in gear. In Afghanistan, our women soldiers participated in the heat of battles, and Capt. Nicole Goddard, almost a neighbour, was decapitated while directing artillery fire against Taliban. I'd demean her by describing her looks. Just say you could take her anywhere. She would have been be an adornment in salons of the world.

With profound respect for your country and military, the US has been a slow learner in what works and doesn't, who can serve and can't serve their country. It has been isolating itself from the realities of war to the extent of now endangering its own survival. It is learning that technological superiority doesn’t necessarily convert into military success. It is coming to terms that the cost of wars of choice aren’t worth it. As Gates said on his departure, anyone contemplating another of these things "needs their head examined."

Canada, which paid dearly for choosing Afghanistan's most dangerous sector in Kandahar and which your country has now taken over, regards its women as equals in all branches of the services. The results speak for themselves. US elite forces welcomed us as partners in combined operations in Afghanistan, particularly sniping assignments. I also found that any notions of chivalry disappear under fire. Thank god yours and ours are coming home.

Thank you for your informative post. My experience in war and training for war ended when the desert wars opened up and I just barely was able to observe women in combat roles. I never saw any in actual combat (other than nurses. I was flying A-4's at the time.) Obviously your experience is more current and to the issue than was mine. During the VN War the only females that I recall where in S-1 or the nurse's corps. There were none in cockpits. That took another decade.

The felicity of war is beyond me. While compelling, the magnitude of the question is boggling.

Sad to hear about Capt. Goddard.