 After World War II ended , his father stayed in the Navy , sometimes working political liaison posts . The family settled in Northern Virginia , and McCain attended the educationally stronger St. Stephen 's School in Alexandria from 1946 to 1949 . To his family , McCain had long been quiet , dependable , and courteous , while at St. Stephen 's he began to develop an unruly , defiant streak . Another two years were then spent following his father to naval stations ; altogether he attended about twenty schools during his youth . He was frequently disciplined in school for fighting . He later wrote , " The repeated farewells to friends rank among the saddest regrets of a childhood constantly disrupted by the demands of my father 's career ... At each new school I arrived eager to make , by means of my insolent attitude , new friends to compensate for the loss of others . At each new school I grew more determined to assert my crude individualism . At each new school I became a more unrepentant pain in the neck . " 
