(OR: JUDGING TOO EARLY LEAVES NO ROOM FOR DOUBT.)
Presidential Candidate Trump, is taking a lot of flak for questioning the hero status of McCain. Before you fall for the main- steam line, read this.
When McCain was running for the GOP nomination Rooster argued against his getting the nomination. Rooster also took collateral damage from many of his Navy buddies who were in favor of McCain simply because he was Navy. Rooster argued that his record clearly indicated he did not have the common sense to run the kind of a campaign needed to stop the coming avalanche of lies. Rooster was correct. McCain never took the fight to Obama.
Rooster’s argument then was much the same as Trump’s today. First of all, getting shot out of the sky by a missile was something McCain could have avoided. Many pilots had the same problem. Having the same warning McCain had, they avoided missile attacks. Point is a pilot with good common sense, who paid attention in briefings and learned from his training, stood a very good chance of coming home. Those heroes are forgotten. Certainly Rooster does not take away from McCain’s endurance in captivity. As we shall see, his guards did not see the irony. Certainly McCann was involved in the destruction of more American Aircraft than their SAM missiles. Point is McCain did not have to be there. But let’s look deeper into his past performance to better understand his use or lack of use of common sense.
Going back to his Academy days he was in the bottom of his class. Not the very bottom but close enough that he should not have been accepted for flight school. Only the best were chosen for very expensive pilot training. Here is where it gets interesting. His Grandfather and his Father were Admirals in the Navy. Both rose to very responsible positions and McCain took advantage of that. The first advantage was pulling strings to go to flight school. There, as in the Academy, he did not shine. Once in the air he had to ditch a trainer over the Atlantic. No real inquiry was conducted. Next he borrowed a Navy jet to fly to an Army and Navy game up north. It too malfunctioned (always blame the plane.) and he ejected. The plane came down in a rural area and no one was hurt. Again no serious questions were asked of the Admirals son. So far the loss of the planes and his rescue cost the taxpayers some several million dollars.
Then on July 29, 1967 McCain was aboard the USS Forrestal Aircraft carrier siting in an A-4 Skyhawk fighter preparing to take off. It was in the famous Tonkin Gulf. Next to him was a similar plane with a pilot by the name of “ White” aboard. Somehow a Zuni rocket was shot from another plane. It went through Whites plane and into the ocean. Fuel and a bomb fell on to the deck, and all hell broke loose. 134 people died including White. McCain saved himself by jumping out of his plane. He went below decks eventually watching the horror on TV in the pilot’s area. Once again he was lucky but no hero. The Naval inquiry could not find a reason for the event and labeled it an accident. It just happened that only one of the fixed Rockets aboard a manned F 4 fired off, and it just happened to be facing the two A 4s of White and McCain. Some 72 Millions in value were lost in the resulting Carrier damage, including McCain’s plane. A total of 21; 11 A 4s, 7 F 4s and three Vigilantes were destroyed. Many others damaged.
Three months later McCain was shot down over Vietnam, losing his 4th million dollar plus plane. This time he was picked up by enemy and made a prisoner.
When he got back home he soon divorced and remarried. Then he began his career in politics in the State of his new wife’s family. His loss of the Presidential campaign against Obama, was largely because he just never figured out how to fight. He simply stood in the way dumfounded. His positions as a Senator have left many common sense folks taking deep breaths. In short his proven conduct over his varied careers, leaves many unanswered questions.
It could be Trump is right on the money. When you think about it, surviving in a hell-hole prison should not make a hero. How a person fights a battle, is the measure. Taking a stand as our boys did in Bengazi. fighting hard, damning the torpedoes and ordering full speed ahead, is the stuff of heros.
PROTEST: FLY THE BETSY ROSS FLAG. It is the one flag where all the States supported the Constitution.
Wc 750
Rooster Bradford, gives up all rights to this article and seeks no compensation for its use. 2015