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Navy releases McCain's military record
AP ^ | May 7, 2008 | JIM KUHNHENN

Posted on 05/08/2008 7:51:34 AM PDT by tlb

WASHINGTON (AP) - John McCain's Navy record boils down to a series of unadorned paragraphs that bestow upon him some of the nation's top military honors.

The Navy recently released McCain's military record - most of it citations for medals during his Navy career - after a Freedom of Information Act request by The Associated Press.

McCain was awarded a Silver Star Medal for resisting "extreme mental and physical cruelties" inflicted upon him by his captors from late October to early December 1967, the early months of his captivity, according to the citation. The North Vietnamese, according to the Navy, ignored international agreements and tortured McCain "in an attempt to obtain military information and false confessions for propaganda purposes."

His captors tortured him and held him in solitary confinement. Still, he declined an offer of early release until those who had been at the prison longer than him were let go.

That decision earned McCain a Navy Commendation Medal. Although McCain was "crippled from serious and ill-treated injuries," he steadfastly refused offers of freedom from those holding him prisoner. "His selfless action served as an example to others and his forthright refusal, by giving emphasis to the insidious nature of such releases, may have prevented a possibly chaotic deterioration in prisoner discipline," the citation says.

McCain attended the U.S. Naval Academy from 1954 to 1958, and was commissioned as an ensign in June of that year. He retired in April 1981 with the rank of captain. In that time he received 17 awards and decorations. Besides the Silver Star Medal, McCain also received the Legion of Merit with a combat "V" and one gold star, a Distinguished Flying Cross and a Bronze Star Medal with a combat "V" and two gold stars.

(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; mccain; mccainrecord; navair; rino; usn; vietnamvets
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To: tlb
"Legion of Merit with a combat "V" and one gold star".

There is no such animal. The medal is only awarded for meritorious achievement/service. Also, the only authorized attachments are oak leafs denoting subsequent awards.

61 posted on 05/08/2008 8:51:46 AM PDT by verity ("Lord, what fools these mortals be!")
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To: nmh

I would like to see Cindy release her tax records. Odd that she refuses.


62 posted on 05/08/2008 8:52:04 AM PDT by Dante3
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To: Williams
Being a leftist troublemaker is hardly presidential timber.

No, but having a background in agitprop is useful for Marxist leftists. Obama's Raison d'être seems to focus on his background in "organizing" Chicago neighborhoods. John McCain was out in the field fighting enemies of our nation, or having his fingernails pulled out in the Hanoi Hilton. Still, come November, it would not surprise me, given the dismal state of the intelligence of the electorate and the mood of the country, to see the voters send Hussein Ulyanov and Ms. Sourpuss to 1600.

63 posted on 05/08/2008 8:52:09 AM PDT by chimera
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To: meandog

“Hard right wingers”?

WTF does THAT mean?

Never mind... Just par for the course coming from a “modern” republican.

Im telling you... These idiots in the republican party have made a conscious decision to shift the party towards collectivism. I mean really... who the f-— says “Hard right wingers” other than a f-—ing liberal?


64 posted on 05/08/2008 8:53:41 AM PDT by myself6 (Nazi = socialist , democrat=socialist , therefore democrat = Nazi)
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To: Post-Neolithic
For me and a whole lot of other folks, all three of the current candidates don't deserve to be President.

And yet one will be president. I hope it's John McCain.

65 posted on 05/08/2008 8:54:00 AM PDT by Huck ("Real" conservatives support OBAMA in 08 (that's how you know Im not a real conservative))
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To: burroak
"So....stay home."

Yeah, that's the ticket, stay home so not even the good conservatives get my vote. What a moronic statement to make.I will be voting 3rd party for the President(or write-in if no good 3rd party is out there), and conservative in the local elections.

66 posted on 05/08/2008 8:55:25 AM PDT by Post-Neolithic (Money only makes Communists rich Communists)
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To: Post-Neolithic
For me and a whole lot of other folks, all three of the current candidates don't deserve to be President.

Well, one of them is going to be...

67 posted on 05/08/2008 8:56:22 AM PDT by carton253 (www.headquartersanv.blogspot.com -- for conversations about the Army of Northern Virginia.)
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To: Dante3

The McCain record that really matters and will have the most impact on this nation is his political one. That is what defines him as a potential POTUS and to what extent he could either support and defend the Constitution or damage it irreparably. Having been a naval aviator and POW may have usefulness in the role of CINC, but if you’re inclined to trash the Constitution that you’re sworn to defend, it becomes a moot point.


68 posted on 05/08/2008 8:57:46 AM PDT by TADSLOS (The GOP death march to the gravesite is underway.)
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To: meandog

I agree. Give it a rest. Sometimes married people don’t get along. Crap happens and the timing for a divorce is off. I am voting for McCain. The thought of President Obama scares the crap out of me. As for a second President Clinton (shudder). I’d rather take my chances on McCain.


69 posted on 05/08/2008 8:58:17 AM PDT by LottieDah (Democrats and liberals never fail to disappoint.)
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To: Post-Neolithic

“Yeah, that’s the ticket, stay home so not even the good conservatives get my vote. What a moronic statement to make.I will be voting 3rd party for the President(or write-in if no good 3rd party is out there), and conservative in the local elections.”

I apologize.

My suggestion, slightly altered, is still the same: just shut up about McCain and leave the presidential boxes unmarked. The train has left the station and McCain is the Republican candidate.


70 posted on 05/08/2008 9:02:13 AM PDT by burroak
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To: DPMD
He wrecks five jets and gets a Distinguished Flying Cross.

Hold up there a minute, cowboy. How is one "wrecking a jet" if it's hit by a Zuni rocket on a carrier deck when he's doing preflight? How is one "wrecking a jet" when an SA-2 blows the wing off while egressing from the target?

71 posted on 05/08/2008 9:04:52 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback (It's not conservative to accept an inept Commander-in-Chief in a time of war. Back Mac.)
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To: nmh
You need help.

You clearly don't appreciate the toll on a person of either caregiving or the care he got at the Hanoi Hilton. He's certainly not a perfect man, nor superhuman, but his personal dalliances are understandable in a human context while draft dodger Bill Clinton's are just boorish and immature.

72 posted on 05/08/2008 9:07:22 AM PDT by newzjunkey (McCain, Liberal. Hillary, Socialist. Obama, Marxist. 2008, year of no choices.)
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To: nmh

What will be really great is when we have a paragon of integrity like Barack “Sgt. Schultz” Obama or Hillary “Sniper fire in Tuzla” Clinton in the White House.


73 posted on 05/08/2008 9:07:37 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback (It's not conservative to accept an inept Commander-in-Chief in a time of war. Back Mac.)
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To: Admin Moderator

Good to see crap like post 50 won’t be tolerated.


74 posted on 05/08/2008 9:11:57 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback (It's not conservative to accept an inept Commander-in-Chief in a time of war. Back Mac.)
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To: burroak

“My suggestion, slightly altered, is still the same: just shut up about McCain and leave the presidential boxes unmarked. The train has left the station and McCain is the Republican candidate.”

Again, I just gotta say... WTF?!

So if the republican party resurrects Mao and runs him on the ticket for president we should just “shut up” about it?

Piss off..

Loyalty to a political party is ignorance. A political party has no ideology (as adequately exhibited by the republicans). If the republican party runs a liberal im gonna oppose him just as hard as the liberal put up by the democratic party. The degree of liberalness doesn’t frigggen matter.

Does that make me a “spoiler”? Yeah.. I guess so.. but so what? maybe the complete destruction of the republican party is whats needed. After all my goal has never been to defeat the democrats, its been to defeat “liberalism” (collectivism).


75 posted on 05/08/2008 9:13:05 AM PDT by myself6 (Nazi = socialist , democrat=socialist , therefore democrat = Nazi)
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To: All
"...His captors tortured him and held him in solitary confinement. Still, he declined an offer of early release until those who had been at the prison longer than him were let go..."

This is a completely false, stupid and misleading statement by the so-called journalists.

Just like the fat guy in Jurassic Park who is eaten by the dinosaur says to it before he is eaten: "Geez. No wonder you're extinct."

In this case, soon to be, we hope.

76 posted on 05/08/2008 9:14:31 AM PDT by rlmorel (Clinging bitterly to Guns and God in Massachusetts...:)
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To: Post-Neolithic

Your “3rd party” vote will go straight into the garbage, unacknowledged by anyone.


77 posted on 05/08/2008 9:15:20 AM PDT by Cinnamon Girl (McCain calls it "radical islamic terrorism," the dems don't refer to it at all)
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To: myself6
...maybe the complete destruction of the republican party is whats needed.

You needn't worry about that. They took care of it themselves.

78 posted on 05/08/2008 9:15:53 AM PDT by TADSLOS (The GOP death march to the gravesite is underway.)
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To: 1066AD
My uncle had a good battlefield medal for bravery in WW2 but you would never have found out by talking to him.

My uncle won the Navy cross in WWII flying Corsairs and B-25 gunships in the Pacific for the Marines. When I was a boy I was fascinated by WWII aircraft as it was an amazing climax on one technology (piston engine powered flight frames) and the dawn of a aviation revolution with the introduction of jets. My uncle was still an active pilot flying Beechcraft Barons around for pleasure. He taught me how to fly when I was a teen. But He would never talk about his war years until one night at my sister's wedding rehearsal dinner. We were getting very wasted on champagne when he started crying almost uncontrollably. Seems he had just come from the funeral of his B25 copilot to whom he remained close after the war and were business associates. Only then did he clue me in on the horrors he faced inside the cockpit of those aircraft. He said the worst was flying the Corsair because even though your fellow pilots were right beside you in formation you were alone in your aircraft. He refused to tell me how he won the Navy Cross but after he died my aunt told me that he won that after shooting down three Japanese aircraft in one sortie. He was haunted by those kills the most of as he could see their faces as their planes burned. It was after that incident that he transferred to the Bomber Corp.

79 posted on 05/08/2008 9:16:38 AM PDT by Pharmer (How am I supposed to rule the world when I surrounded by freakin liberal idiots!)
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To: Vroomfondel; SC Swamp Fox; Fred Hayek; NY Attitude; P3_Acoustic; Bean Counter; investigateworld; ...
SONOBUOY PING!

Click on pic for past Navair pings.

Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist.
This is a medium to low volume pinglist.

80 posted on 05/08/2008 9:18:02 AM PDT by magslinger (cranky right-winger)
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