How does someone turn down a promotion and then be given a disability pension?

[WA98070]

The more I learn about this man the more I am amazed he was ever elected senator.

According to the Wikipedia article on John McCain:

McCain decided to leave the Navy. He was unlikely to ever make full admiral, as he had poor annual physicals and had been given no major sea command.<62> In early 1981, he was told he would be made rear admiral; he declined the prospect, as he already made plans to run for Congress and said he could "do more good there."<63>
McCain retired from the Navy on April 1, 1981,<64> as a captain.<65> He was designated as disabled and awarded a disability pension.<66> Upon leaving the military, he moved to Arizona. His seventeen military awards and decorations include the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star and Navy Commendation Medal, and are for actions before, during, and after his time as a POW.<65>


I hope someone does in depth study of how he earned his medals including interviews with others.

Also, besides being the son of an admiral, how did he get into flight school? I wonder what other students at the Naval Academy that graduated near the bottom of their class still got into flight school?

[goldcanyonaz]

1. McCain like Kerry served his country honorably

Do we want to walk down this road? I surely do not!

[Fridays Child]

3. In terms of his military service, I see McCain as something of a Bush-Kerry hybrid.

A slacker, like Bush; fearless, like Kerry; and a fortunate son, like both.

[goldcanyonaz]

4. wow, a pow camp is the new club med?

[Fridays Child]

5. Where did you come up with that?

[goldcanyonaz]

6. anyone who is a pow is not a fortunate son, perhaps an unfortunate son

seriously, I have the utmost respect for anyone who serves their country regardless of class or creed

[Fridays Child]

8. Obviously, you don't understand the reference.

John McCain started his life as a fortunate son and has continued it as a fortunate husband. The names McCain and Hensley have undoubtedly opened the door to many opportunities that his own actions would not, otherwise, have merited.

[goldcanyonaz]

9. so, you are saying he could have bought his way out of serving his country/

this is a very sensitive subject for me and was when kerry was fucked off in 2004, anyone who serves their country is a hero in my opinion.

[Fridays Child]

10. You're fabricating remarks, ascribing them to me, and getting hurt feelings over them.

See if you can find someone else to play make-believe with you because I'm not interested, hon.

[goldcanyonaz]

11. k, sweetie!

[OzarkDem]

13. His military service wasn't fortunate

It was believed as a POW he was singled out for more punishment because his father was a high ranking officer.

[Fridays Child]

15. Actually, when North Vietnamese officials learned who his father was...

...they took him to a Hanoi hospital that no other POWs were allowed access to. It was still a hellhole and he was still tortured later but, without the treatment he received there, he would not have survived. Apparently, even McCain himself has spoken about this.

And, given his family's history, there was probably never any doubt that he would become a military officer. In the context of his own life, however, he was a classic fortunate son.

[babylonsister]

2. "He had poor annual physicals". He would have gotten the disability

either way, especially given how he got disabled, working for this country. I don't begrudge him that.

[bluedawg12]

7. Service connected disability is not related to promotion

- all military personel have a right to undergo a disability eval. for their service connected injuries and a pension if they qualify.

[OzarkDem]

12. You do realize he was a POW for over 5 yrs at the Hanoi Hilton

His plane was shot down, he broke both arms and a leg. His captors didn't treat him, but like all prisoners, beat him regularly for 5 years, 2 of those years in solitary confinement.

He was also nearly killed before that in the fire on the USS Forrestal




I don't agree with the man's politics nor do I want him as president. But trying to characterize him as some sort of slacker in the military is wrong. I've met Vietnam POW's before and what they went through was hellish. To say he didn't deserve a disability pension is wrong. The military took very good care of its POW's for all they went through.

Try to focus on the issues if you're looking to highlight McCain's weaknesses. Attacking him on his military service is not recommended.

[PsN2Wind]

14. He probably got into flight school by asking

I was offered the opportunity to go to flight school (NAVCAD) while in boot camp but couldn't meet the vision requirement, 20/20 uncorrected, and I was an enlisted man. Not sure I would have had what it takes to be a carrier pilot anyway, not many do. Having three hundred or so feet of flight deck to land on as opposed to ten thousand feet of cement makes it a whole different ball game.

[sandnsea]

16. Go learn how the military works

and then you'll answer your own question.