If not for his father he would have never been there in the first place let alone graduate.
He was what you would call a legacy cadet I guess. Your right he was going to get in no matter what and he did with a pass.
Turned out he wasn’t Navy material and was a terrible pilot.
Anyone else would have been cashiered out of the Navy but McCain got way too many passes. When he got back from Vietnam he got a promotion to Captain but that was a as far as he was going, the Navy was never going to promote him to Flag Rank and he got out and went into politics with his new rich wife.