Even if he was following orders it was still heroic to choose to follow those orders and continue to be tortured rather than to disobey the orders and be released from the torture.
So, you’re saying it would have been better for McCain to refuse to follow orders and get himself out of there...
Wouldn’t there have been military penalties for this when he got back?
Further, wouldn’t it have made a great story for the anti-military crowd back then - how an admiral’s favored son refused to obey orders, came home free, and left the everyday soldiers to rot in hell. Surely, McCain must have considered all of this.
In my opinion, and only my opinion, I’m not so sure Stiockdale didn’t give this order precisely because he was familiar with McCain taking advantage of his preferred status...
If simply following orders is ‘heroic’, than nearly every one in the armed forces is a hero by that definition. The label ‘hero’ would be so watered down as to render it meaningless.
I don’t think so.