McCain was an airhead, not a grunt. Like his fellow airhead Donald Rumsfeld, he wouldn't know Army readiness from a PTO bake sale. He flew twenty-two (22) bombing missions over the course of approximately five months. That's it. That's the sum total of his military experience. Well, that and being tortured for five years in a POW camp, but being tortured for five years in a POW camp qualifies you for years of physical and mental therapy, not President.
McCain has never commanded a single other person, unless you count being a POW as a command position. After his release from the POW camp, he was placed in a PR desk job. Yeah, that's some sorta preparation for being Preznit, but not exactly, well, military experience. He has no more hands-on conception of the needs of a ground army than Donald Rumsfeld had -- both have similar Navy aviation backgrounds. And you know how well Rumsfeld did. I'd rather have a President who listens to generals, than a President who thinks having some irrelevant experience as an aviator many years before makes him a war preznit who doesn't have to listen to the generals. Haven't we already had one of those, these last seven years?!
But funny, you dare mention that John McCain's military career was less than impressive and suddenly the same folks who were sticking purple bandaids on their face to demean the service of a winner of two Bronze Stars and a Silver Star suddenly go ballistic about how you're "demeaning the service of a war hero". Funny, that, eh?
- Badtux the Military Penguin
I dunno. He may have only flown 22 combat missions, but he served in the navy long enough to make it to whatever they call colonel. That is generally considered to be military experience. Actual combat missions during the Cold War weren't all that common.
ReplyDeleteHe made it to captain in the Navy based on seniority gained during his stint as a prisoner of war, but never had a command role -- he was placed in a PR desk job after he was released. Combat missions were quite common during the Vietnam War, pretty much all active-duty Navy pilots ended up doing missions against North Vietnam or ground support for the Marines near the DMZ. The problem was that he got shot down on his 23rd mission. Regarding his rank, all Navy pilots are officers, but the only thing they command are their jet fighters or bombers. The A-4 that McCain flew was a single-seater attack bomber. McCain never commanded anybody else in the Navy. He has absolutely no (zero) military leadership experience, unless you count being a POW as "leadership".
ReplyDeleteTo summarize: a) his military service was either as an aviator ("airhead") or PR flak, neither of which are particularly relevant to a ground war in Asia, b) he never had a command or leadership position, and c) his active military service outside of being a POW was very short. In that he is very similar to former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, whose conduct of the Iraq war proved that his experience as a navy aviator was poor preparation for managing a ground war in Asia. McCain is Rumsfeld on steroids, and has the same blind spots that all airheads have when it comes to the needs of a ground army.
In short, McCain's military experience, like Donald Rumsfeld's, is likely to be a detriment to the proper wrap-up of the Iraq war and the proper conduct of the Afghan war, because it is utterly inapplicable to the needs of those theaters of action yet just enough to convince him that he knows what he's talking about and thus should ignore the experts. An Israeli with a similar background is Lt. General Dan Halutz of the IDF. You all know how effective he was at conducting a land war in Lebanon... yeah typical airhead. Sigh.
- Badtux the War Penguin
The image of planes bombing anonymous village after anonymous village in Vietnam has always haunted me. And then we've got McCain's "bomb Iran" song. This is hardly the stuff that great leaders are made of. As for the war, I'm amazed at American's lack of historical knowledge. The war began with massive U.S. aid to help the French RECOLONIZE Vietnam. McCain was one of the people killing kids, adults, pigs, dogs, and anything else who happened to be in the flight path in order to kill some of the freedom fighters who resisted the recolonization of their country. This should count as a huge stain on his record.
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