McCain should be respected for fighting in Vietnam. However, I think he was a fairly poor pilot. He graduated third from the bottom of his class, failed a major exam, and lost 5 airplanes. His father was an Admiral, and you can be pretty sure that had some effect on his career. Also, due to a fire caused by McCains plane, he nearly sunk the U.S.S. Forrestal.
McCains plane was hit by a Zuni rocket that was launched by an electrical malfunction on an aircraft on the other side of the Carrier. Nice how you put it though... McCain nearly sinks the Forrestal because he's a republican ass.
Classic.
I agree with the point that there's a world of difference between being a combat pilot and a soldier on the ground, but I don't feel comfortable with drawing such stark moral distinctions.
Soldiers on the ground, if captured; were normally tortured and killed. Low value to Hanoi. VERY few captured soldiers survived... Pilots, having a significantly higher level of education and training were of significant value to the Vietnamese as bargaining chips with both the Russians and the Americans. The Russians for technical de-briefing.. those with advanced radar and weapons training, especially nuclear delivery training were normally 'disappeared' by the russians and very few were ever returned.
That war was real, folks; people died horrible deaths. McCain climbed into an unarmed 2'nd generation bomb truck to fly low level attack runs into the most effectively defended airspace of the era... 23 missions. To have any man attempt to minimise his skills and sacrafice with cheap shots.. and then parrot that crap here indicates an utter disrespect for the men that served in harms way.
McCain attended the U.S. Naval Academy from 1954 to 1958, and was commissioned as an ensign in June of that year. He retired in April 1981 with the rank of captain. In that time he received 17 awards and decorations. Besides the Silver Star Medal, McCain also received the Legion of Merit with a combat "V" and one gold star, a Distinguished Flying Cross and a Bronze Art Medal with a combat "V" and two gold stars.
Several citations mention his achievements either as a prisoner or as a lieutenant commander flying bombing runs off the deck of the USS Oriskany. Some are signed by then-Secretary of the Navy John Warner, who would become a colleague of McCain's in the Senate.
The citations refer to his "accurate ordnance delivery" and his "aggressive and skillful airmanship." He earned his Bronze Star the day before he was shot down, for participating in a mission over an airfield in Phuc Yen, 11 miles north of Hanoi.
The citation for his Distinguished Flying Cross sums up McCain's misfortune the following day:
"Although his aircraft was severely damaged, he continued his bomb delivery pass and released his bombs on the target. When the aircraft would not recover from the dive, Commander McCain was forced to eject over the target."
He may have been an Admirals son, be he was never anybody's fair-haired boy. He earned his awards, he served with distinction.
