A US senator has told colleagues that she “was preyed upon and raped by a superior officer” while in the Air Force something that left her traumatized.
Senator Martha McSally, who was the first female US fighter pilot to fly in combat, was speaking at a hearing on sex assaults in the military.
The Arizona Republican said she did not report the rape as she felt ashamed and confused, and distrusted the system.
Ms McSally told the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on Wednesday: “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.
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.”
Senator Kristen Gillibrand of New York, the top ranking Democrat on the committee, said she was “deeply affected by that testimony”.
Ms McSally served 26 years in the US Air Force, rising to the rank of colonel, before retiring in 2010.
She was then elected for two terms in the US House of Representatives before winning her Senate seat last year.
It is not the first time Ms McSally has spoken about being a survivor of sexual abuse.