 Around the end of 1980 , McCain decided to retire from the Navy . He had not been given a major sea command , and his physical condition had deteriorated , causing him to fail the flight physical required for any carrier command position ( in addition to his limited arm movement , certain weather would always cause him to walk with a limp ) . McCain thought he might make rear admiral , but probably not vice admiral , and never become a four @-@ star admiral as his grandfather and father had been . McCain later wrote that he did not anguish over his decision , although it pained his mother , who thought congressional careers paled in comparison to top naval ones . He was excited by the idea of being a member of Congress and was soon recruiting a campaign manager that Cohen knew , for a planned run at a House seat from Arizona . In early 1981 , Secretary of the Navy John F. Lehman , who did not want to see McCain leave the liaison post , told McCain that he was still on the path to be selected for one @-@ star rear admiral . McCain told Lehman that he was leaving the Navy and that he could " do more good " in Congress . 
