“he did five months.”

Five months more than Bush, however. Which is to my point.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/gorevietnam.asp

He served one year, ten months in the Army.

A military record, to me (a veteran), shows an inclination in the direction of service to the country, as do many other forms of service (peace corps, cyber corps, even positions with NGOs). It doesn’t automatically make someone a great commander, let alone President, but it is different than “holding a job.” McCain should rightfully be respected for his service and obvious sacrifice while in uniform, but that doesn’t automatically make him a superior candidate to Obama, who should be respected in his own right for his service in state and federal offices.

I think the election OUGHT to be about (and probably won’t) different ideas, and the candidates’ vision for our country, who we should be for the next 4 years, and the policies he’ll enact.

The Navy’s, at the time, conclusion was that McCain’s wet start stunt cooked off the Zuni. I will also point out that the pilot of the plane the Zuni came from died in the incident which would have been a bit less likely if, rather than being right behind McCain, he was all the way over on the other side of the flight deck.

Also, if McCain was a “victim” here why was he immediately (and the only one) kicked off the ship? I can see the captain saying “I can’t keelhaul him but I want that Admiral’s….son off my ship before he kills anybody else.”

The Zuni that struck McCain’s A-4 came from an F-4 on the OPPOSITE side of the flight deck from McCain. The tailpipe of McCain’s A-4 was pointed out over the ocean.

The Zuni was fired when the F-4′s pilot switched power from the gen cart to internal batteries. The switch over caused a short on the firing circuit because 1)they the F-4′s crew chief had plugged in the Zuni pod upon loading instead of just after hooking up to the catapault – as an approved unofficial time saving measure and 2) the safety pin was missing because the wind blowing over the deck had pulled the long red tag attached to the pin enough to pull it out.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_USS_Forrestal_fire for a diagram of the positions of McCain’s A-4 and the firing F-4.

In essence, McCain deliberately flamethrowered the plane behind him which cooked off the Zuni rocket which hit his fuel tank and ultimately dropped his known to be overloaded bombs.

McCain was quickly transferred (the only Forrestal crewman to be immediatly transferred) to the USS Oriskany.

While McCain was on Forrestal during the incident you mentioned, he was a victim there. His A4 was the one hit by a Zuni rocket fired accidentally from across the deck.

There is film of McCain climbing out his cockpit, walking along the refueling probe and jumping down into the burning deck.

Despite your interesting take on the VA, I suppose I should point out that that the voting records shown in my excerpt involved the Disabled American Veterans, Iraq and Afganistan Veterans and the Retired Enlisted Association not the VA (simply groups that are concerned about what happens to their fellows once they are no longer ,hmm, active service [even if involuntarily]).

shellybear

If we are looking at the *type* of service then the type of service that put the USS Forrestal into drydock for 2 years and killed well over 100 fellow seamen is not the kind of service I want running my government.