John McCain’s heritage is one of a military family from his father who was an admiral in the Navy to his grandfather and so on. McCain who’s real name is John Sidney McCain III is known as “Ace McCain” by his war buddies from Vietnam. This must have translated into “maverick” at some point in his career for it is a word we have heard once too often during the campaign.
What does Maverick mean exactly but a person who thinks independently, a lone dissenter, a non-conformist or rebel. From Wikipedia A man named Samuel Augustus Maverick (1802-1870) was a Texan cattleman from whom the term was originally coined after.
The truth is that McCain’s war record was not because he destroyed the enemies or was successful in battle but he was called “Ace” due to the fact that he crashed five of our own US planes. The name Ace is really a sarcastic reversal of the a true Ace professional and is not a compliment. The facts are plainly indicative of a person who did not excel in military school since he graduated at the bottom of his class at the US Naval Academy.
After flight school McCain proceeded to crash is first plane in 1958 when his engine quit and dropped him into Corpus Christi Bay. Actually this crash could have killed him because he became unconscious when knocked by the impact as the plane sank to the bottom of the bay. Later the plane was recovered and mechanical test findings were that the plane did not have engine failure. A flight instructor gave him a very poor grade stating McCain had no real ability, received consistent failing marks, and was assigned a Dangerous down grades to the junior naval officer.
The second crash in December 1961 came when McCain was sent to the Mediterranean and flew too low over the Iberian Peninsula he cut through power lines and crashed another plane. He admitted to be clowning around while flying and the wreckage was returned to the aircraft with the power lines still attached to his plane. In spite of this recklessness he was promoted to Lieutenant two years later.
The third crash came when McCain was flying a trainer solo to Philadelphia for a football game. McCain through the radio stated he had a flameout, and at 1,000 feet ejected himself before the plane crashed into trees.
The forth crash In 1967 McCain was assigned to an A-4 Skyhawk when a freak accident occurred as a rocket smashed into his fuel tank on takeoff. McCain did escape but 134 sailors were killed in the explosion. It is unclear through various conflicting reports whether McCain did a wet start or a stray electrical charge triggered the missile launch from another plane on the aircraft when McCain started his jet.
Three months later the fifth crash which was another downing, happened when his A-4 Skyhawk was hit by artillery near Hanoi in North Vietnam where he was taken as a prisoner of war. The son of the admiral who commanded the Pacific was captured and became a hero.
In analyzing John McCain’s military career he only had 20 hours in combat and received 28 various metals thanks to his father Admiral McCain. Other infantry men had over thousands of hours in actual combat and did not receive medals for keeping their planes in the air and actually beating the enemy.
Other Navy pilots and people who knew McCain often said they would not fly with him. McCain’s recklessness, and poor record in the military does not seem to agree with his claims to duty to country.
Finally a military sealed record of an car accident involving John McCain has been challenged in court by Vanity Fair magazine and a news service to be released.
It is said to have involved a car accident, John McCain and an unidentified person who was killed by the accident. This is still in the courts as the Navy is being sued to release the records of that fatal accident.
To be campaigning for the Presidency of the United States on his record McCain does not seem to exemplify the honor bestowed on the real heroes of the Vietnam war.
TAGS: John McCain, McCain’s military record, A-4 Skyhawk, Naval Academy, Admiral McCain, Maverick, McCain’s Military Record -Crashes 5 Airplanes, McCain crashes 5 planes, Vietnam, downing a plane, politics, politicol news, John Sidney McCain III.
