The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Our Son Made It Through

Posted on | December 3, 2015 | 40 Comments

 

My wife got the call Sunday from Camp Rudder: “Hooah!” Regular readers know about our son’s service (see “A Soldier and Two Marines: Sworn to ‘Support and Defend the Constitution’” and “He Gets His Wings Tonight”). We have spent the past months praying for him to make it through one of the most difficult military training programs in the world. Camp Rogers, Camp Darby, Camp Merrill, Camp Rudder — extreme physical and psychological stress are involved, and he made it.

So our family is making a road trip and, given the current state of national alert, readers can understand why considerations of operational security limit me from saying much more about the timing and destination of our journey, but we’re gonna see him get that tab. We prayed very hard for our son to make it through this grueling ordeal, and our prayers have been answered. So I’m rattling tip jar for the Shoe Leather Fund to put me on the road again. Thanks in advance.




 

Category: Family, Military

Comments

40 Responses to “Our Son Made It Through”

  1. Adjoran
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 7:08 am

    Congratulations! You are deservedly proud – although he kinda did all the heavy lifting.

  2. M. Thompson
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 7:13 am

    Good for him!

  3. robertstacymccain
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 7:31 am

    C’mon, man. It’s his genetic superiority — I deserve at least half-credit for that.

  4. Mike G.
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 7:46 am

    Congratulations to your son. Good luck on your trip to see the graduation and tacking on of the tabs.

  5. Quartermaster
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 7:54 am

    Yeah, but she did the heavy lifting for 9 months.

  6. Quartermaster
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 7:55 am

    Congrats to the young McCain. I had the impression, however, he was going for a Green Beret.

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    December 3rd, 2015 @ 7:56 am

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  8. Toastrider
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 8:47 am

    *falls over laughing*

  9. Powered by UNicorn flatulence
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 9:23 am

    Prayers for a safe journey.
    Heartfelt congratulations

  10. Dana
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 9:31 am

    So, were any of the wimminfolk in his class? 🙂

  11. RS
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 10:09 am

    Congrats to your son! Prayers for his safety.

  12. Fail Burton
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 10:20 am

    The fact you’re invoking “loose lips sink ships” at this supposedly peaceful time in our history shows what a suicide cult liberalism is. They have created a war they insist doesn’t exist – except when it does.

  13. CrustyB
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 10:56 am

    Your son jumped out of airplanes, completed months of grueling training above & beyond regular Army training and became a Ranger? Big deal! I know a guy who admitted that he’s a weirdo who likes buttsex! That’s American heroism today!

    Seriously, though, congratulations. I know you couldn’t be more proud of him.

  14. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 11:16 am

    Nature and Nurture!

  15. Dana
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 11:50 am

    Alas! For too many Americans, your comment wouldn’t seem sarcastic at all.

  16. Greg
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 12:23 pm

    You typically do Ranger school before going to SF school.

  17. Rigel Kent
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 12:47 pm

    Congratulations!

  18. concern00
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 1:23 pm

    As a former member of the military your son has my respect. Congratulations.

    It’s a pity that Obama’s goon, Ash Carter, has just announced a further unravelling of the world’s greatest defence force by allowing women into any role in the military.

  19. Quartermaster
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 2:05 pm

    News to me. I’ve known few in SF who had been to Ranger. The County Prosecutor (USAR LTC) where I used to be County Engineer was SF and had never been to Ranger School. He was typical of the Army SF I knew. I asked about the men who had both Ranger and SF tabs and he told me they had probably gone before they went to Bragg.

  20. Quartermaster
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 2:07 pm

    I couldn’t let that go by. The temptation was simply far to overwhelming.

  21. Thomas Jameson
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 3:48 pm

    Congratulations to your son, you and your entire family.
    Now steel yourself for what may come. Talking on the phone today to my aged Mom she brought up the latest terror attack and expressed both the conviction we need to take the fight to them to the degree they simply quit, “like the Japs and Germans”, and concern for the future of her great grandsons. That morphed into a story of her fears during my 18 months in Vietnam, fear that I now know gnawed at her 24/7 even while I may have been sitting in the shade of a banana tree eating my C-Rations thinking “Hell, this ain’t so bad”. A soldier learns when to be ..concerned, family always worries.
    I wish him and you all the very best of luck.

  22. Dianna Deeley
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 3:52 pm

    Congratulations!

  23. WJJ Hoge
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 3:57 pm

    The current normal track into SF involves a couple of years with the 75th Rangers. Stacy’s son scored high enough to make it into a direct-to-SF training program with Ranger School as one of the last stops along the way.

  24. Quartermaster
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 4:05 pm

    Like I said, that’s news to me. Ranger School did not used to be on the path to a Green Beret. A man I used to work with in the 70s was able to get a direct to SF enlistment (quite rare in those days) and he went direct to Bragg after Basic and Infantry AIT.

  25. Rattling a Tip Jar | hogewash
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 4:11 pm

    […] mine, Stacy McCain’s. There’s an excellent reason to make a donation to his Shoe Leather Reporting fund right […]

  26. Jim R
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 4:12 pm

    Congratulations to your son. And I think you and Mom can take a bow, too.

  27. bruce of oz
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 5:25 pm

    Congratulations! We are all proud of our kids and that sounds like quite an achievement.

  28. mole
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 7:49 pm

    Congrats to the man.
    Ill try to tip in the price of a beer or 2 after pay-day.

    Ask him how the Rangers “diversity and gender workshop” went for me.

  29. Adobe_Walls
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 8:21 pm

    A big atta boy to your son.

  30. Nan
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 9:02 pm

    Congrats! I’ll for his continuing safety through the intercession of Emil Kapaun.

  31. RKae
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 9:31 pm

    How dare they discriminate against the weak and the fainthearted!

    A progressive military would be open to the weak and fainthearted!

    End the weakophobia!

  32. trangbang68
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 9:43 pm

    Mr. McCain, as an old grunt who struggled to get through infantry school at Tigerland at Fort Polk I can’t imagine how difficult Ranger training must be. Congrats on growing a warrior!

  33. Greg
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 10:30 pm

    Yeah, I don’t know that it’s a “requirement”, but when I was at Benning, the guys who were om that track went to Infantry school, airborne school, air assault school, ranger school, and then SF. The only one that seemed “optional”, was air assault school.

  34. JeffS
    December 4th, 2015 @ 9:24 am

    Congratulations to the McCain Clan! Well done, soldier!

  35. Bob Belvedere
    December 4th, 2015 @ 10:59 am

    Mrs. St. Other McCain and you must be so proud.

    God bless that fine young man.

  36. Quartermaster
    December 4th, 2015 @ 3:33 pm

    The services change things over time, and that’s not a problem. Air Assault and Ranger Schools weren’t on that track when I was familiar with things. I’m guessing the PTB thought they’d be able short cut something, or perhaps do a better job, by making Ranger School a requirement.

    I visited Air Assault School when the only location for the course was at Fort Campbell. I could see the point if you had come from a regular leg unit to the puking buzzards, but most of what they did was done in Ranger School as well. Still, given the way the services operate, Air Assault School may still be required if the people you knew on the SF track were going.

  37. Quartermaster
    December 5th, 2015 @ 12:50 pm

    They’re doing their level best.

  38. Chris Cassone
    December 5th, 2015 @ 2:59 pm

    Proud to know the father of a Ranger. Congrats, Stacy, and give him a Hooah for me.

  39. From Around the Blogroll | The First Street Journal.
    December 5th, 2015 @ 4:15 pm

    […] Stacey Stacy McCain on The Other McCain: Our Son Made It Through Mr McCain’s son passed Army Ranger […]

  40. Rangers Lead the Way : The Other McCain
    December 6th, 2015 @ 9:39 am

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