A friend of mine who is a military brat posted this on her FB page last night:
McCain’s real legacy is: His father was the Admiral in charge of the Pacific fleet prosecuting the war in Vietnam.
Because of this McCain got preferential treatment in the Navy. He was allowed to become a Navy pilot. But he was a terrible pilot.
McCain crashed two navy Jets in his early career. Then while aboard the Aircraft Carrier USS Forrestal, McCain got angry because he had to wait in line to take off on a bombing run.
He shut off his engines, opened the cockpit, and in his haste to exit the aircraft to chew someone out about his having to “ wait”, he hit the button that released his live bombs onto the deck of the Forrestal.
He took off running, as the bombs exploded, which set off a chain reaction of bombs from adjacent aircraft, and the ensuing explosions and fires killed 133 sailors aboard the Forrestal.
While his fellow sailors were fighting the fire, McCain went to the pilot’s lounge below decks and watched the men fight the fire on closed circuit TV.
Hours later, McCain took off with a New York Times reporter buddy of his, and went on to say that after seeing the effects of those bombs on the Forrestal, he was beginning to question the morality of dropping those bombs on the Viet Cong.
McCain was the direct cause of 133 deaths on his own ship, and was never reprimanded. He was nowhere to be found as the Forrestal had to limp to the Philippines for months of repair work.
McCain was married then. His wife was stricken with debilitating injuries in an automobile accident. And was hospitalized for more than 5 months. McCain was off gallivanting with anything in a skirt.
Upon returning from Vietnam Nam, McCain found his wife was disfigured by her injuries, which included a shattered pelvis, arm, and legs. In order to save her legs, doctors performed 23 surgeries on her, and had to remove significant portions of the bones in her legs, which left he shorter, and unable to walk, and in a wheelchair, she had to use a catheter.
McCain was disinterested in his first wife’s predicament. She had to go through grueling physical therapy to learn to walk again.
After McCain left the Navy, he was intent on a career in politics. He and His wife Carol had gotten to know Ronald and Nancy Reagan, and McCain was eager to jump into politics.
But he decided he needed a more visually pleasing young woman by his side. He callously divorced Carol, the mother of his three children, and immediately jumped into the sack with new wife Cindy, who was 18 years younger.
Upon learning of this, the Reagans were shocked and angered by how he had treated Carol.
While campaigning for congress, McCain used pictures of himself posing with Mr. And Mrs. Reagan, but there was no hearty endorsement offered by the Reagans. McCain’s new young wife was also an heiress to an Arizona Brewing fortune.
And let us not forget McCain was one of the Keating 5, who had helped swindle life savings from countless Americans in the Savings and Loan scandal of the 1980’s. McCain was in it up to his eyeballs.Yet McCain was well-connected in Washington, and parlayed his connections into a seat in the United States Senate.
So before the tearful tributes to John McCain, be sure you remember the facts about this self-proclaimed Maverick. The facts do not agree with that portrait of a heroic patriot and great American.With due respect to his family, John McCain was never the great man so many portray him as.
I do not wish the man any harm or ill-will. But neither should we allow this false narrative fairy-tale about this scoundrel of a man as he faces his eternal fate. can see what John McCain really is.
Taken from another post.... CNN should report this!
He shut off his engines, opened the cockpit, and in his haste to exit the aircraft to chew someone out about his having to “ wait”, he hit the button that released his live bombs onto the deck of the Forrestal.
He took off running, as the bombs exploded, which set off a chain reaction of bombs from adjacent aircraft, and the ensuing explosions and fires killed 133 sailors aboard the Forrestal.
While his fellow sailors were fighting the fire, McCain went to the pilot’s lounge below decks and watched the men fight the fire on closed circuit TV.
Hours later, McCain took off with a New York Times reporter buddy of his, and went on to say that after seeing the effects of those bombs on the Forrestal, he was beginning to question the morality of dropping those bombs on the Viet Cong.
McCain was the direct cause of 133 deaths on his own ship, and was never reprimanded. He was nowhere to be found as the Forrestal had to limp to the Philippines for months of repair work.
This nonsense has been disproven time after time after time. Isn't there enough to criticize McCain for without resorting to lying about his military service?
Holy cow.
McCain’s life would make for an extraordinarily weird movie. A man blessed with so much good fortune that it boggles the mind. Exceeded only by the spite he brought to it.
He has three other children? /S
McCain adopted his first wife’s two children. They then procreated a daughter named Sidney in September 1966
One has to wonder, I always have as to how many others beyond the 133 that died sustained life long injuries, and disfigurements from the disaster John McCain created aboard the USS Forrestal.
There are people who argue McCain was not specifically responsible for the Forestall fire - and the flight evidence supports some of their claims. However, he DID credibly “wet start” (blow live flames across the deck) other times before that specific fire as an attention-getter to shock his fellow fliers on the deck. Because of his history and his reputation for these fires, John McCain WAS immediately transferred off the Forestall within hours of the fire by his dad’s orders to avoid the crew, even before many of the injured crew.
His flight “crashes” are only partially correct:
- The first three of his crashes were prop-driven planes destroyed in training accidents, incidents, and ejections.
- Despite these crashes and incidents (flying at low level into wires for example), he was transferred into Vietnam-era-jets (thrown out of the slower, less visible, less stressful propeller planes) again from his father’s friend’s influence back at the Pentagon).
- John McCain’s fourth and fifth “victories” for his ace pilot award were both jets: One burned up on the Forestall fire, and the final one shot down when McCain was flying too low after returning to a strike in North Vietnam. It is not clear why he returned to the bombed area after releasing his bombs.
Got racism much ?
That is not what happened.
McLame was parked on his deck spot, not waiting in line. A rocket from an F-4 on deck fired due to stray voltage (malfunction) and that rocket hit one or two other aircraft, Knocked a fuel tank loose which caught fire and touched off plane munitions.
The guy was a douche but he didn't cause the Forrestal fire. Anymore than the other pilots who were sitting in their planes.
“...CNN should report this!...”
But they won’t.