Former POWs: 3 Are America's Best

As three U.S. soldiers face trial Friday at the hands of their Serbian captors, two former prisoners of war talked about what the prisoners might be going through and reflected on their own experiences on CBS This Morning.

Senator John McCain—a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee—was held prisoner of war for more than five years in Vietnam. Andy McNab was a sergeant with British special forces and spent seven weeks as a prisoner during the Gulf War.

"They are well trained, the best that America has, the best in the world, they are professionals," McCain, R-Ariz., said about the captured men. "Already they are exhibiting courage under difficult circumstances, but it is a difficult time for them."

McNab said getting on TV was good for the soldiers, who were given the opportunity to show the U.S. military and their families that they were still alive.

"Getting paraded in front of the TV must have been a big morale boost [for them] because they can physically have contact with each other. They get a sense of strength," McNab explained. "They feed off each other because they can physically see each other."

McCain said Milosevic would use the captured men as a propaganda attempt to strengthen the support of his people and prove that the Yugoslavs are capable of capturing U.S. soldiers.

"We need to do whatever is necessary to stop [Milosevic]," McCain said. "We need to win."

The senator reiterated his support for sending ground troops into Kosovo. "Clearly things have not gone according to plan. The point now is not to change the end but change the means to achieve that end which was legitimate to start with," McCain said.

McNab said what helped him most while he was imprisoned was a lecture he heard from an American Vietnam veteran.

"What he said was that whatever theyÂ're going to do physically to you, you have no control over that. What you have to do is keep the integrity of your mind. If you keep that integrity, youÂ'll beat them without a doubt," McNab said.