Subtitle: Where are real investigative reporters when we need them?
If you saw or heard headlines like MSNBC's
Navy releases McCain's military record
Unadorned paragraphs bestow some of nation's top military honors
reporting the story by JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer, you might believe that the Navy has released McCain's military records.
If you do, you would be wrong. The main stream media propaganda being what it is you would be understandably wrong but still wrong.
According to Kuhnhenn,
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.
If you look at the link to the records that were released you will see that Kuhnhenn was misrepresenting the facts by calling this small collection of only 19 pages McCain's "military record".
This Associated Press headline "Navy Releases McCain's Military Record" is all over the internet as it was picked up as a story in very many local media outlets both printed and television.
Apparently what the Navy released were the copies of citations, a couple of pages listing his eligibility for service citations, and a little over one page of a typed outline listing brief biographical data including dates of promotions and assignments on a plain page of paper without even a military letterhead.
Now, I never served in the military. My older brother was a Marine in Vietnam and based on his stories, on what I knew aboout the history of Vietnam from the information available at the time, and on my own developing beleifs in non-violence as a better way, when I was had to register for the draft in 1967 I registered as a conscientious objector. I just didn't buy the story that the communists in Vietnam were planning to march down the streets of Los Angeles, as my draft board said they would, if I did't join the military.
So there may be things in these documents that I don't understand based on their military point of view. But I can see where dates don't agree. And it doesn't take a military mind to see that vast amounts of information on McCain's military service are missing.
I'm writing this diary based on the story that these 19 pages are considered the release of McCain's military records. If I am wrong and there are other more complete versions of McCain's military records that have been released, then please, anyone, let me know and I will modify or delete this diary as appropriate.
But based on the reported story, my first question is, why did Kuhnhenn and the Associated Press report this paltry handful of 19 pages as the "release" of McCain's "military record"?
Where are the rest of McCain's military records?
Where are the reports on McCain's Naval Academy grades?
Where are the reports on McCain's transfers from one unit to another and why he was transferred?
Where are the reports on McCain's assignment to pilot training in Florida and the references to his Naval Academy grades qualifying him for such an assignment? Where are the letters indicating who recommended him for that assignment? Where are the records of how his training went?
The slim list of his service assignments states that after Naval Air Basic Training, McCain had two short assignments with the third being to VA-65 from November 1960 to October 1963. Then in November 1963 McCain was reassigned back to Naval Air Basic Training? Why? What happend at VA-65? At Air Basic Training was he getting retraining for himself or was he assigned to train others?
Where are the reports on the five wrecked jet planes that McCain was involved in during his military career?
After McCain's second stint at Air Basic Training he was assinged to the Training Squadron SEVEN ad Meridian Mississippi for a little over two years. Where are his military records from this assignment?
He then went to VA-44 at Cecil Field Florida for six months until April 1967.
In May 1967 McCain was transferred to VA-46 where the "record" says he served for only four months to September 1967 howerver this dae is sucpect as discussed below. Why was he transferred out of VA-46 after only four months? VA-46 was duty on the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal (CVA-59). Could it have anything to do with the fact that on July 29, 1967, about two months after McCain began his duty with VA-46 on its very first combat deployment that there was a terrible disaster on deck where a ZUNI missle was set off that created a chain reaction of explosions and fire that killed up to 134? Where are the military records of McCain's involvement in the USS Forestal incident?
Note: I have seen three different dates on the internet references to the USS Forrestal incident written as the date of the fire, July 20, July 26 and July 29, of which the 29th is the official date.
Here's a video of the incident which states "134 men were killed or missing." This video is used now for training purposes to scare sailors into taking ship fires seriously and to get them to take their fire fighting instruction seriously.
Note that the video begins by saying "On deck somehow a ZUNI rocket has been triggered." Where is the Navy's investigation report on how the missle was set off and who was responsible? Could it be that the rumors that the Zuni missle was set off because of McCain's negligence are true? One story has it that McCain was in his jet at the time and he was showing off and trying to scare the pilot behind him, so McCain made a big flash of explosion of jet fuel happen when he "wet started" his engine, and because the flash was too large it set off the Zuni missle on the plane behind him and the missle shot out under McCain's plane and several others until it hit a nother plane down the row as shown in the video.
McCain's campaign biography says he was on the USS Forrestal on July 29. Here's McCain's official description of the event.
On July 29 1967, John narrowly survived the first of many near-death experiences during his lifetime while preparing to take off on a bombing mission over North Vietnam from his ship, the USS Forrestal. A missile accidentally fired from a nearby plane struck the fuel tanks on John's plane and created a deadly inferno aboard the ship. John barely escaped the fiery disaster that killed 134 men, injured hundreds more and destroyed 20 planes.
Again, the missle "accidentally" fired.
According to WAYNE MADSEN/WAYNE MADSEN REPORT
WMR has learned additional details regarding the deadly fire aboard the Navy aircraft carrier, the USS Forrestal, on July 19, 1967 in the Gulf of Tonkin. The additional details point to then-Lt. Commander John McCain playing more of a role in triggering the fire and explosions than previously reported.
On January 16, 2006, WMR reported that according to a US Navy sailor who was aboard the Forrestal on the fateful day of the fire, "McCain and the Forrestal’s skipper, Capt. John K. Beling, were warned about the danger of using M-65 1000-lb. bombs manufactured in 1935, which were deemed too dangerous to use during World War II and, later, on B-52 bombers. The fire from the Zuni missle misfire resulted in the heavy 1000 pound bombs being knocked loose from the pylons of McCain’s A-4 aircraft, which were only designed to hold 500-pound bombs."
WMR further reported, "The unstable bombs had a 60-second cook-off threshold in a fire situation and this warning was known to both Beling and McCain prior to the disaster." WMR also cited the potential that McCain’s Navy records were used against him by the neo-cons in control of the Pentagon, "The neo-cons, who have had five years to examine every file within the Department of Defense, have likely accessed documents that could prove embarrassing to McCain, who was on board the USS Forrestal on July 29, 1967, and whose A-4 Skyhawk was struck by an air-toground Zuni missile that had misfired from an F-4 Phantom
WMR has been informed that crewmen aboard the Forrestal have provided additional information about the Forrestal incident. It is believed by many crewmen and those who have investigated the case that McCain deliberately "wet-started" his A-4E to shake up the guy in the plane behind his A-4. "Wet-starts", done either deliberately or accidentally, shoot a large flame from the tail of the aircraft.
In McCain’s case, the "wet-start" apparently "cooked off" and launched the Zuni rocket from the rear F-4 that touched off the explosions and massive fire. The F-4 pilot was reportedly killed in the conflagration. "Wet starting" was apparently a common practice among young "hot-dog" pilots.
McCain was quickly transferred to the USS Oriskany (the only Forrestal crewman to be immediately transferred). Three months later, McCain was shot down over North Vietnam on October 26, 1967.
The unofficial looking list of assignments in McCain's released military record states that McCain was reassinged out of the VA-46 (thus off the USS Forrestal) in September 1967 and assigned to VA-163 in October 1967. But the official Air Medal citation "for meritorious service" in VA-163 on "the USS Oriskany (CVA-34)" states that his service there "during missions in support of combat operations" was "from 25 July to 21 October 1967." So the citation says McCain was transferred to the VA-163 on the USS Oriskany not in September two months after the USS Forestal disaster but four days before the fire.
What is the cause of this discrepancy in the military records? What was the date that McCain was transferred from the USS Forrestal to the USS Oriskany?
Why does the plain sheet of paper in the military record say he was transferred off the USS Forrestal in Septemeber 1967 but the citation for service on the USS Oriskany says he began his service there on July 25, 1967, four days before the fire on the USS Forrestal?
Did McCain transfer off the USS Forrestal after the fire but have his records altered at the time to appear that he transferred off before the fire? Did he transfer in July or in September? Could it be that McCain's quick transfer off the USS Forestal and out of VA-46 and the confusion of the dates were because he was found to be responsible for the fire? Could it be that he was transferred so quickly so the sailors wouldn't frag him for having casued the death of their fellow sailors? Or could it be something innocent like there just weren't enough planes to go around after the 20 to 21 planes were damaged? I don't know, but perhaps the full military records would clear this up if we ever got to see them.
Knowing how many other pilots were transferred off the USS Forrestal after the fire and how quickly they were they transferred would also help explain if there was anything unsual about McCain's transfer and why the records that were released have such a discrepancy. The USS Forrestal certainly wasn't put out of commission by the incident and other planes could have been brought in, so were they? Was McCain the only pilot transferred off of the Forrestal so quickly?
Is the USS Forrestal incident McCain's Chappaquiddick with the records being buried by the military? Release of the full and complete records would help clarify these points.
McCain's official boigraphy next says,
Instead of taking the option to return home after the Forrestal disaster, Senator McCain volunteered for more combat duty - a fateful decision that stopped the clock on his life and separated him from his family, and country, for five and a half years.
Excuse me, why would he be given "the option to return home" after the Forrestal disaster? He was in the military so he couldn't just "return home." Combat pilots were needed so why would the Navy offer to let him "return home" if there was no responsibility for the disaster on his part? And since when do combat trained pilots get to volunteer for combat duty rather than be assigned to such duty? Perhaps the military records could clarify what "volunteer" for combat duty means in in a war time environment. Are there any military personnel out there who could help me understand this point?
So next after the USS Forrestal disaster, McCain was assigned to VA-163 on the USS Oriskany and was shot down either in the very same month or 3 months later depending on which of the two dates of the transfer is correct. The citations don't make it clear what the difference is between "combat support missions" and actual combat missions. Acccording to the citations his combat support missions were between July 25 and October 21 and he engaged in combat missions worthy of citation on the 18th and 25th of October and on the 26th when he was shot down.
The citation for his Silver Star says that from October 27 to December 8 1967,
His captors, completely ignoring international agreements, subjected him to extreme mental and physical cruelties in an attempt to obtain military information and false confessions for propaganda purposes.
Wait a minute? What does it mean "attempted"? McCain has admitted that he was successfully broken down by his captors and that he did make and sign "false confessions." So this citation is for his resistance before he broke down. None of the citations referring to his POW experience mention that he signed confessions. I'm not faulting him at all. I probably would have signed any false confession they put before me without any torture. The point is not that he didn't demonstrate valorous resistance before he was broken down, but that these are not complete military records if they don't include the references to the confessions that he did sign afterwards. These citations by their very purpose just cherry-pick the things the superiors could write down as deserving of citation and they ignor any other facts. That is understandable in a document whose sole purpose is to justify a citation, but it is not a military record of the whole incident itself.
After McCain was released from capture, where are the military reports on McCain's debriefing after being a POW?
After McCain was relaeased from the hospital in July 1973 he was promoted to Commander and assigned to the National War College for 11 months. Then he was assigned to VA-174 where he served for three years until July 1977 without promotion though he received a citation for his safety record, personnel training, and promoting the "Human Resources Developmnet program".
McCain was then transferred in July 1977 to the Office of Legislative Affairs in Washington DC where he served as "Director of the Senate Liason". In other words McCain was serving as a lobbyist for the Navy. Two years later in August 1979 he was promoted to Captain and less than two years later in March 1981 he retired from the Navy to take up his political career.
At his retirement after serving as Director of the Senate Liason, McCain received the Legion of Merit award. The citation is pretty funny to read as it clearly describes his political savy as a Navy lobbyist at working the system for the benefit of the Navy. Here's what the Navy's praise of its lobbyists sounds like:
Captain McCain's unique talents, exceptional knowledge of politico-military matters, and keen and unusally perceptive insights into the interests and relationships between key members of the Congress provided Navy leadership with sage advice and sound judgement for enacting critical legislation during a period of severe fiscal constraint. His performance in this sensitive and critical postition contributed directly and significantly to the success of navy programs before the Congress, ensuring both readiness and modernization of the fleet.
So McCain was promoted to Captian and awarded the Legion of Merit by the Navy for performing the duties of a good lobbyist.
The next year McCain the former Navy lobbyist was elected to Congress and another fox was let loose in the hen house.
Kuhnhenn reports that the AP received the records as a result of a Freedoom of Information Act request. But Kuhnhenn did not report why he only received 19 pages. He didn't report what the nature of his request was or whether there was any response indicating why he didn't receive a complete record. Why hasn't McCain voluntarily waived confidentiality and released his full military records on his own?
So with all these unanswered questions about his military career, I can only ask where are John McCain's real, actual, and complete military records and when will they be released?