McCain has been in some hellish situations in his life

McCain is an incredibly resilient man -- we all know of his capture and subsequent torture for 5 years in Vietnam and multiple ejections from fighter planes. While certainly not forgotten little is heard of his presence on the flight deck of the USS Forrestal during one of the most intense naval accidents in US history.

McCain escaped from his jet by climbing out of the cockpit, working himself to the nose of the jet, and jumping off its refueling probe onto the burning deck of the aircraft carrier.

His flight suit caught on fire as he rolled through the flames but he was able to put it out. He went to help another pilot trying to escape the fire when the first bomb exploded; McCain was thrown backwards ten feet and struck in the legs and chest by shrapnel. The ensuing fire killed 134 sailors, injured scores others, destroyed at least 20 aircraft, and took 24 hours to control.

McCain stated after the accident, "I thought my aircraft exploded. Flames were everywhere."

Wiki citation from An American Odyssey

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Note that this video though low quality shows graphic scenes with crew members burning while fighting the fire.

To have gone through what the man has been through and still be so fit mentally and physically at 71 truly is amazing. Whether you support his political positions or not there has to be a respect of his determination.

This purpose of this thread is more to discuss some of the amazing events in McCain's life rather than his run for the White House. The focus is obviously the Forrestal disaster, but other interesting facts are welcomed. If you read an obvious trolling or bating post in this thread please just ignore it.

A final important note -- there are the beginnings of a swift boat style attack blaming McCain for the disaster because he 'wet started' his jet. This is absolutely not true.

 

Here are a couple of short one minute videos -- the first showing a highlighted area that is believe to be McCain jumping out of his plane and the second showing the aftermath. The first is a bit over the top on the presentation, but the footage is worth a look. How McCain survived that first explosion is a miracle -- I think you can actually see him fly up in the air.
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