Posted on 02/22/2008 12:54:53 AM PST by Kurt Evans
John Sidney McCain III entered the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland in 1954. Young McCain wanted to become an admiral. He planned to achieve the distinction of being the "first son and grandson of four star admirals" . But that was not to be. McCain III possessed none of the innate character and discipline traits that helped mold his father and grandfather into great military leaders.
Family Connections and Special Privileges:
His father, John S. "Junior" McCain, and grandfather, John S. McCain, Sr., were famous four-star Admirals in the U.S. Navy. His father commanded U.S. forces in Europe before becoming commander of American forces fighting in Vietnam. His grandfather commanded naval aviation at the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. Both men became highly influential in U.S. Navy operations.
At the Academy, aside being known as a "rowdy, raunchy, underachiever" who resented authority, Cadet McCain became infamous as a leader among his fellow midshipmen for organizing "off-Yard activities" and hard drinking parties. Robert Timberg wrote in his book , The Nightingale's Song, that "being on liberty with John McCain was like being in a train wreck."
McCain's grades were "marginal." He drew so many demerits for breaking curfew and other discipline issues that he graduated fifth from the bottom of the class of 1958. Despite his low "class standing," and no doubt because of the influence of his family of famous Admirals, McCain was leap-frogged ahead of more qualified applicants and granted a coveted slot to be trained as a navy pilot.
Good Party Animal - Bad Pilot:
He spent the next two and a half years as a "naval aviator in training" at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida and Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas, flying A-1 Skyraiders. While a pilot trainee, McCain continued to party hard. He drove a Corvette and dated an exotic dancer named "Marie the Flame of Florida." Timberg wrote that McCain "learned to fly at Pensacola, though his performance was below par, at best good enough to get by. He liked flying, but didn't love it."
McCain Lost Five Military Aircraft:
McCain, the "below par" pilot, eventually lost 5 military aircraft, the first during a training flight in 1958 when he plunged into Corpus Christi Bay while trying to land. The Navy ignored the crash and graduated McCain in 1960.
While deployed in the Mediterranean, the hard partying McCain lost a second aircraft. Timberg described the crash: "Flying too low over the Iberian Peninsula, he took out some power lines which led to a spate of newspaper stories in which he was predictably identified as the son of an admiral."
Unscathed, McCain returned to Pensacola Station where he was promoted to flight instructor for Naval Air Station Meridian in Mississippi. The airfield at Meridian, McCain Field, was named in honor of McCain's grandfather.
In 1964 McCain became involved with Carol Shepp, a model from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he had met at Annapolis. They were married in Philadelphia on July 3, 1965.
Flight instructor McCain lost a third aircraft while flying a Navy trainer solo to Philadelphia for an Army-Navy football game. Timberg wrote that McCain radioed, "I've got a flameout" before ejecting at one thousand feet. McCain parachuted onto a beach moments before his plane slammed into a clump of trees. The Navy dismissed the crash as "unavoidable" and assigned McCain to the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal in December 1966, which was patrolling the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.
In Spring 1967, the Forrestal was assigned to join the Operation Rolling Thunder bombing campaign against North Vietnam. McCain lost his fourth plane on board the Forrestal on July 29, 1967 when a rocket inadvertently slammed into his bomb laden jet. McCain escaped, but the explosions that followed killed 134 sailors. McCain was transferred from the badly damaged Forrestal to the USS Oriskany. Shortly afterwards, on Oct. 26, 1967, he was down and captured by the Vietnamese.
Post-POW Years: Political Ambition and a New, Young, Rich Wife:
Upon his release from North Vietnam and return to the United States in 1973, McCain reunited with his wife, Carol, who had been permanently crippled in a car accident while he was a POW. Still yearning to become an admiral, McCain enrolled in the National War College at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. and underwent physical therapy in order to fly again. The Navy excused his permanent disabilities and reinstated him to flight status, effectively positioning him for promotion.
Timberg described McCain's advancement: "in the fall of 1974, McCain was transferred to Jacksonville as the executive officer of Replacement Air Group 174, the long-sought flying billet at last a reality. A few months later, he assumed command of the RAG, which trained pilots and crews for carrier deployments. The assignment was controversial, some calling it favoritism, a sop to the famous son of a famous father and grandfather, since he had not first commanded a squadron, the usual career path."
While Executive Officer and later as Squadron Commander McCain used his authority to arrange frequent flights that allowed him to carouse with subordinates and "engage in extra-marital affairs." This was a clear violation of the Military Code of Conduct rules against adultery and fraternization with subordinates. But, as with all his other past behaviors, McCain was never penalized; instead he always got away with his transgressions.
Timberg wrote, "Off duty, usually on routine cross-country flights to Yuma and El Centro, John started carousing and running around with women. To make matters worse, some of the women with whom he was linked by rumor were subordinates . . . At the time the rumors were so widespread that, true or not, they became part of McCain's persona, impossible not to take note of."
In early 1977, Admiral Jim Holloway, Chief of Naval Operations promoted McCain to captain and transferred him from his command position "to Washington as the number-two man in the Navy's Senate liaison office. McCain was promptly given total control of the office. It wasn't long before the "fun loving and irreverent" McCain had turned the liaison office into a "late-afternoon gathering spot where senators and staffers, usually from the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, would drop in for a drink and the chance to unwind."
In 1979, while attending a military reception in Hawaii, McCain met and fell in love with Cindy Lou Hensley, 17 years his junior, who was the daughter of James W. Hensley, a wealthy Anheuser-Busch distributor from Phoenix, Arizona. McCain filed for and obtained an uncontested divorce from his wife in Florida on April 2, 1980 and promptly married Cindy on May 17, 1980.
He resigned from the Navy in 1981 and went to work for his father-in-law in Phoenix; where he used the opportunity to make powerful and wealthy friends in Arizona including banker Charles Keating and Duke Tully, the editor-in-chief of the Arizona Republic. Keating was later convicted of fraud, racketeering, and conspiracy and Tully was disgraced for concocting a phony military record of combat in Korea and Vietnam including medals for heroism. McCain ran for Arizona's First Congressional District in 1982. McCain won the congressional seat. In 1987 McCain was elected to the Senate.
Lot of similarities to George W. How’d that work out for him?
At this point, sir, the choice is awful. However lacking McCain may be, he is a damn sight better than Obama or Clinton. Your posting of a Huckabee/Hunter team is just a dream. Let’s stay with the R hand that no one wanted but through horrible party leadership we have.
I agree that Arizona Senator John McCain is not the right person at the right time. However, Senator Barack Hussein Obama never even put on the uniform of his country, nor even thought about it, from everything that I’ve read about him.
He is a socialist acolyte of Saul Alinsky (Google it). What are we to do? It will be one of these two men in the White House next year.
Here's a good slogan for you:
"Vote Huckabee - Hunter '08....And Send the Message that Republicans Want Socialism, too!"
The same slogan would work for Sen. McCain, too.
Gosh, I wonder what Obama and Hillary’s records are like...
If McCain (the presumptive nominee—do the math)would pick someone like Fred Thompson, Duncan Hunter or another strong conservative as his running mate, I would gulp, hold my nose, and pull the lever. If, on the other hand, he picks a Joe Lieberman, Lindsay Graham or such-like RINO, he’s probably on his own....
In Arab culture and under Islamic law, if your father is a Muslim, so are you. ... Where will Obama’s loyalties be? I know Barack Obama says he is a Christian. I don’t want to test Obama’s loyalty after, God forbid, he is elected and sitting in the chair of the Oval Office?
Vote for McCain. Pray for him and our Troops!
The Best Reason to Vote for McCain
1. Commander in Chief Barack Hussein Obama, Jr
I have some Islamic Manchurian candidate fear going on here.
The stupid party strikes again!’ “Let’s frag OUR guy so we will achive victory... yea... that will work...”
I would vote for Nixon over Obama or Clinton. I'm looking for another country right now, but they mostly won't let me bring my gun collection. That should tell you how unhappy I am right now.
He is NOT very popular from Annapolis Grads. I know and serve with many and when I mentioned his name (especially in 2000), they would discuss why they have issues with him. Well since 2000 when they talked with me, I witnessed some of the things he did, joined FR, and learned alot more than I knew in 2000. BUT still I guess I will have to vote for him in 2008 especially if Obama is the nominee on the Democratic side. He is going to be very difficult to beat I believe.
If Hillary is the nominee, then McCain should choose either Michael Steele or Herman Cain - a lot of liberal blacks would sit out but some would be attracted to either one of these accomplished gentlemen.
where did this ass hat get his info from???
No victory will come from consorting with a traitorous bastard.
He is without honor.
Wow, I didn’t realize that driving a Corvette was evil.
“If McCain (the presumptive nominee—do the math) ...”
Here’s the math:
http://politics.nytimes.com/election-guide/2008/results/delegates/index.html
The hard count is the one that matters. Everything else can change between now and the convention. If Texas conservatives don’t concede en masse, it’ll be at least two months before McCain could possibly lock up the nomination.
I think he’s the first flyboy in history to drink and chase wimmins.
Well Ted a lot of what you say is true,however would you rather have Hillary or Obama as CIC??????????
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