I agree with you, xzins. I was attached to the 82nd for REFORGER and other “special[extraordinary]” missions during the same timeframe 1975-1980 and after. Unqualified in all respects for airborne infantry, not even jump-qualified, and I can’t say I remember the secretary himself - it’s a big unit. I was medical. But I can say that 1) that Ranger tab was/is a big deal, and 2) the 82nd ABN performed missions during the cold war that were either “special ops” in character, or in close concert or supportive of Special Ops, They were right at the edge of Special Forces. This is, in my view, not stolen valor at all, since we don’t know, and perhaps will never know, what missions he performed, and anyone accusing him of that, who isn’t himself a vet of SOF/Rangers, can shut his piehole.
This guy was a soldier, he was an Airborne soldier, and he was Ranger qualified, and it’s not much of a slip of the tongue to say, “I was special forces” when that was normally what was the generalized term for specops way back then.
If he hadn’t done all the other stuff, then sure — call him a liar — but he had done all the other stuff AND he HAD gotten his spec ops qualification.
I’m not going to dump on McDonald other than to say he wasn’t specific enough, and it hurt him, and it was his fault for not being specific. I personally don’t consider having all the qualifications and identifying yourself in that vein as being a lie. Simply lacking in specificity.