Sen. Martha McSally on Air Force handling of rape: 'They failed on the job. Big time'
Sen. Martha McSally said during a national TV interview that aired Friday she hopes her decision to share her story of being raped by a superior officer while serving in the Air Force helps other survivors of sexual assault find their voice.
McSally, an Arizona Republican who served more than two decades in the Air Force and was the first female pilot to see combat, has not identified her assailant or disclosed details about when or where the rape occurred.
"CBS This Morning" co-host Norah O'Donnell, who conducted the interview with McSally, said McSally told her, "at one point in the interview that, 'I didn't have just one occurrence, to be clear.'"
O'Donnell also said McSally declined to say if the perpetrator or perpetrators were still serving in the military.
McSally made her dramatic revelation Wednesday during a Senate Armed Services subcommittee about prevention and response to sexual assaults in the military.
McSally, 52, told "CBS This Morning" she did not even consider reporting her own rape when it first occurred.
"Honestly, I didn't even think about reporting it. That's kind of the environment that we were in at the time," McSally told CBS, adding that she loved serving in the Air Force. "There's a lot of denial. There's a lot of confusion … You kind of, you know, just suck it up."
She felt as though she had "no options" at the time. Asked if she regrets not reporting her assault when it occurred, McSally said, "I always like to look forward, not back."
When she did decide to share her experiences, she was horrified at how they were handled. During Wednesday's subcommittee hearing, McSally said when she did decide to share her experience, "I felt like the system was raping me all over again."
She said she was "mortified" by the Air Force's handling of her experiences.
"Interrogating me about, 'What happened to you? Tell us what happened to you.' And I was mortified," she told CBS, her voice shaking. "If that's the way you are treating being alerted that somebody has been through something like this, who actually is trying to have our military succeed at dealing with it. And you bring me in and interrogate me as if I'm the perpetrator even in the tone and the approach and the just the ignorance. … They failed on the job. Big time. I got up, and I left, and I dropped a bunch of swear words, just to be frank."
MORE: Thousands in the military report each year being raped
McSally said those who are sexually assaulted should report their assaults, but that it was not up to her to compel people to come forward.
"Each person has to make their own decision," she said. "I'm not going to compel anybody."
She added that women should have the opportunity for an investigation and swift justice.
McSally would not say whether she had confidence in the how the military handles sexual-assault claims.
"Look, we have a lot of work to do — we do," she said. "We've got to stop the next assault from happening right now."
She said the "grace of God" gave her the strength to cope with some of the worst experiences in her life, helping put her on a positive path where she could "fight for others."
McSally spent much of her career at Air Force bases in Arizona, and a report completed for the Defense Department last year suggests that military installations in the state are among the most dangerous when it comes to rape and sexual harassment for service members.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Sen. Martha McSally on Air Force handling of rape: 'They failed on the job. Big time'
