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.
“Here’s a good slogan for you: ‘Vote Huckabee - Hunter ‘08....And Send the Message that Republicans Want Socialism, too!’”
You seem to think you sound smart, but you don’t. Educate yourself:
http://mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.Home
“what is your point. mac had a lot of fun so what”
My point is to make other conservatives aware of these allegations.
“Why did you cut this part out?”
Mainly because I support Governor Huckabee.
“McCain and ol’ Huckers are in cahoots.”
That claim is absurd.
“Yeah, I’m a lousy pilot and like girls too, whats yer point?”
As I said in post #182, my point is to make other conservatives aware of these allegations.
“McCain’s actions that day were heroic ...”
Do you have a source? What I’ve read suggests the opposite.
“Howard Phillips is a nut case, too.”
Howard Phillips is an American hero.
The only good news about all of the “negatives” about everyone that’s running for POTUS is that all of these things are being seriously discussed right now, long before November 4. It will be interesting to see what mindset the majority of conservative voters have and what mindset the majority of the voting general public have by November 4. Will things truly change between now and November 4, and who knows for sure one way or the other?
“There is not one word in your sentence that shows McCain to be a mad man...”
You quoted more than one sentence, and none of them were mine:
http://newswithviews.com/baldwin/baldwin426.htm
“Did he steal your girlfriend?”
No, but he apparently might if he had the chance.
“The question all should be asking is how did a left wing liberal like Mac become the republican front runner in the first place?”
Fred Thompson stayed in the race through South Carolina—even though by that time he had no chance or intention of winning—to help his old buddy McCain. Then the media, including ostensibly conservative outlets, insisted on trying to sell baby-killer Mitt Romney as the only legitimate alternative to McCain, even though Romney has roughly the same amount of charisma as a garden yam.
“So does he support Obama?”
I’m not sure there’s any way for me to know that.
“Are you and the rest of the malcontents going to continue to hammer McCain during the general election to insure we get something much worse for CinC, US policy setter, SCOTUS nominator, etc.?”
No, but if he won the nomination, I might continue to hammer him in an attempt to get something better.
“Hunter was my first choice, I think so much less of him since you posted this...”
And I think less of you because you posted that.
“Enough of this ******, once and for all. It makes this board look like the Daily Kos for **********.”
You don’t exactly improve Free Republic by taking Christ’s name in vain.
“I guess this guy would much rather have Obi-bam-kenobi, eh?”
As I said in post #190, I’m not sure there’s any way for me to know that.
“And do you and Ted think that Obama or Hitlery is fit to be CIC?”
I definitely don’t.
“But what do we do when faced with TWO Presidential candidates who are both clearly unfit to be Commander-in-Chief??”
Generally I vote for the candidate I believe is most fit, even if that’s not a major-party candidate.
As Howie Carr would, "Go screw!"
You keep publishing this tripe and in the end all you do is drive away people. At the same time I will never be able to take anything from Sampley seriously. So if you think posting daily multiple pro-Huckabee articles in conjunction with a couple negative McCain articles is gonna make up the delegate deficit or (because it won't) lead to a contested convention and Huckabee will ride to the rescue, then you and your ilk are in for a big surprise. Huckabee will not even be the VP (Thank God)
I will celebrate the day Huckabee is finished.
Is that allowed?
You have to be kidding. Who do you work for? Dan Rather. Your statement is unfair and who knows if this article is accurate or wishful thinking on the part of the author.
Howard Phillips is a nutcase in his own right. Don't get me started on Howard Phillips and the Constitutional Party. I know they're charlatans. They're delusional and only want to separate people from their hard-earned money and give them false hopes and to make them feel morally superior until they realize they've been duped.
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