During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on sexual assault in the military on Wednesday, Arizona Sen. Martha McSally, a decorated Air Force officer and the first female fighter pilot to fly in combat, said she was raped by a senior officer while she was on active duty.
The Arizona Republican said she did not report the rape as she felt ashamed and confused, and distrusted the system, the BBC reported.
“I stayed silent for many years. But later in my career, as the military grappled with the scandals and their wholly inadequate responses, I felt the need to let some people know, I too was a survivor,” McSally told the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on Wednesday.
“I was horrified at how my attempt to share generally my experiences was handled. I almost separated from the Air Force at 18 years of service over my despair. Like many victims, I felt like the system was raping me all over again,” McSally added.
McSally was appointed to the U.S. Senate in December as a permanent replacement for Sen. John McCain. In the Air Force, she flew the A-10 Thunderbolt and went on to command the 354th Fighter Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, the first woman to command a fighter squadron.
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