* McMaster really had little choice but to remain in uniform as the process to retire from the military generally took months, especially for those who were wounded as McMaster was and who would require long-term medical treatment. McMaster’s armored personnel carrier was blown up in Iraq in 2005 and as a result he had an artificial hip. Trump announced that McMaster was his next national security adviser when he was at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, February 20, 2017. A day later McMaster was working at the White House.