McCain knew that to “raise my profile as an aviator, perhaps the only way, was to achieve a creditable combat record.” Soon after he and Carol welcomed daughter Sidney in September 1966, McCain joined a squadron in Vietnam. “He’d pick fights with midshipmen and even officers if he felt he was in the right about something,” said classmate and future admiral James Hamrick. Even so, McCain showed leadership skills, once even chastising an upperclassman for unfairly berating a steward. The plebe balked at rules, led a clique called the Bad Bunch and played poker till the wee hours. While McCain did well in such academy classes as history and literature, as a rambunctious underachiever he quickly earned the nickname John “Wayne” McCain. Four years later, John followed his father and grandfather’s trajectory and joined the Naval Academy in Annapolis, though he admitted later, “There were times in my youth when I harbored a secret resentment that my life’s course seemed so preordained.” In 1950 they landed in Washington, D.C., where Jack became chief of the Navy’s legislative-affairs office, and McCain’s mother, Roberta, hosted Beltway parties. As a Navy brat, John moved with his family for each of Jack’s assignments.
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