On behalf of all the McCains who have served in naval aviation—from my grandfather, who earned his wings as a captain in 1936; my oldest son, Doug, who earned his wings in 1985; to my son, Lieutenant (junior grade) Jack McCain, who earned his wings this past January—I thank you for the very-generous recognition you have given my family. It has been a privilege for all of us to serve and to have played a small part in the first 100 years of naval aviation history. Ever since reporting to Pensacola more than 50 years ago, I have had the pleasure of being involved with naval aviation in some capacity. I acknowledge that my early involvement was at times "eventful" and that my mishap record certainly contributed to the national debt. I doubt that I would last very long in today's Navy. One of the benefits of living as long as I have is that you get to see a lot of history in the making. And if you are paying attention, you can learn the lessons of what we did right, and what we did wrong. Both should be carefully studied. At the very least, we should make it our goal to repeat what worked well—and to avoid what didn't. Tonight I would like to talk briefly about what I believe to be the key factor in the success of naval aviation over the past century. It is one of the things we did right. It has to do with leadership.
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