McCain followed his father and grandfather into the service -- and it seems he did so kicking and screaming a bit.  It's not like he CHOSE it freely because he was noble.  It was like a kid following his father and grandfather to Harvard.  So his choice of the military was somewhat unimaginitive, to say the least. That he suffered in Vietnam no one can or should deny.  But it seems to me he was like the legacy students at the Ivies, and that he doesn't deserve praise for getting his college education via the military, nor did  military training give him anything special in the way of the ability to govern in a civilian society. Nor does it give it to anyone else or we would have lots of famous and worthy presidents from the military. Actually, the Ivies have given us more presidents, though of course not all of them are so great, either.