Energy executive pushed by Perry padded his military record

WASHINGTON (AP) - Defense Department records show an oil-and-gas industry executive that Energy Secretary Rick Perry recommended as an adviser to the Ukrainian government exaggerated his military credentials.

The veterans group Valor Guardians says Robert Joseph Bensh scrubbed the false information from online profiles after learning they were investigating his service record in 2014.

Bensh claimed he served in some of the U.S. military's most elite combat units: Army Rangers, Special Forces and the hyper-secret Delta Force. But a summary of his military career obtained by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act request shows he spent less than five years in uniform, almost all of it with the Army National Guard. He was on active duty for only a few months and never deployed oversees.

Bensh declined to provide comment.