"Lance Corporal McCain and his fellow riflemen had trained for the worst in the spring of 2007, using paintball guns rigged as M-16s to apprehend costume-clad 'insurgents' in fake Iraqi villages. In the real Iraq, they saw little combat. 'We were expecting to get shot at all the time," said Lance Cpl. Justin Murdock, 20. 'But 95 percent of the time, nothing was going on.' The marines were stationed in Anbar Province, where some of the war's bloodiest battles had been fought. But the fighting had moved on to other areas, and Lance Corporal McCain's company mostly did security work, which meant keeping an unceasing eye on the locals, poor Sunnis who grew rice and other crops on small plots." Jimmy, 19, is apparently a modest kid who doesn't like special treatment-unlike some candidate-kids who spend all their time hounding superdelegates.

"Just before Jimmy's departure, Mrs. McCain decided she had to see him one final time, according to Lieutenant Bowlby. With a few well-placed phone calls, she won permission to visit the Air Force base from which his unit would depart. When Lance Corporal McCain found out, he protested. No special favors, he said. Mrs. McCain stayed away. 'God forbid someone gave him something the rest of the marines weren't entitled to,' Lieutenant Bowlby said." [NYT]

Jimmy's home now, but he could be sent back to Iraq at any time. And if his dad is elected President, so could his grandkids.