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GSC, I have always enjoyed your posts and meant you no disrespect on this thread. It's just that JM had a long record of failure before he became a prisoner in VN. He didn't distinguish himself in any way as a youngster. His father and grandfather were Navy admirals. He was admitted to the Naval Academy not based on his credentials, but based on his legacy status. He graduated eighth from the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy and was almost universally despised there and in his later service in the Navy because he was viewed by others as being a hot dog who didn't pay attention to details and regulations, and viewed himself as something special because of who his ancestors were.

He crashed at least four planes during his service in the Navy, with only the last one being in a conflict situation. I don't have time to go into the details of each crash, but they are readily available online. Had it not been for the political pull of his father and grandfather he would not have been allowed near the controls of an airplane based on his history and credentials. As an earlier poster mentioned, he parlayed his prisoner status into a political career. (One wonders if a more competent pilot could have avoided his situation altogether.) His personal life has been just as much a study of incompetence as his military and political careers. It is truly saddening that incompetence at the levels displayed by McCain, Obama, Hillary and many others can lead to such positions of power and respect in this country.