TJ WALKER - THE HABIT INFLUENCER - Personal Development | LIVE STREAM

24 Feb 2015 · 2 min

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TJ Walker (host) reports that U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald claimed—incorrectly—to have served in the Special Forces, then issued an apology. Walker critiques the apology as insufficient, argues Special Forces members and the broader military will be upset by the inflated claim, and predicts political fallout that may threaten McDonald’s job.

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The United States Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald is under fire for inflating his wartime credentials. Here's what happened. Robert McDonald claimed that he was a member of the Special Forces in a question and answer session that was apparently captured on tape a couple of weeks back. Turns out he was never in the Special Forces. This is more than just an oops. And he did put out an apology last night. But the apology didn't explain how he confused the difference between being in the military versus in the Special Forces. Now, let me just say up front, I didn't serve in the military. I don't claim to have any expertise on military culture, but something tells me that that members of the Special Forces do not take kindly to someone claiming to have served in the Special Forces when they didn't. Now, it's always good to get out front on a crisis and to get an apology out. However, in this case, I just don't think this is going to be enough to save his career because a lot of members of the military are going to be upset by this. That the person looking after them has somehow inflated his credentials. That's number one. Number two, as in any administration, there's always enemies of administration who are looking to embarrass the administration by trying to force a scandal, or at least exploit a scandal to get someone to have to resign. So for all those reasons, I think it's going to be time for the current Secretary of Veterans affairs to polish up his resume and he better fact check it not once but twice.