PSAB, at the time, was bending over backwards to avoid offending the Saudis on anything. The Saudis could cancel our flying at any time, and sometimes did for a few days at a time to remind us. I remember when we filed a flight safety complaint. We went to see the tapes and the Saudis played a tape from a completely different day. We (the crew who complained) were told to keep our mouths shut and pretend the tape was accurate because political sensitivities outweighed any safety violations from the Saudi Air Force.
As I’m sure you are aware, Hulka, the military rules often exceeded any restrictions the Saudis actively sought because we needed to keep a very low profile. We were NOT the Embassy! We didn’t have “rights”. People at the Embassy could drink alcohol. The French & British, IIRC, could often drink alcohol. But the US forces at PSAB could not - and it was all about trying to keep a low profile, hard-to-object-to status.
McSally was all about HER - what SHE wanted! HER RIGHTS! She was an AMERICAN and wanted to rub Saudi noses in her AMERICAN RIGHTS - and to hell with the military keeping a low profile and trying to fit in so we could concentrate on FLYING out of PSAB!
The A-10 pilots I’ve met who were in squadrons with her - maybe 6-8 total - said she was like that in the squadron as well. All McSally, all the time. Certainly her career path was more influenced by Congress and politicians than by...I don’t know...actually earning a reputation by FLYING? Versus sucking up to people in Congress?
I don’t have much sympathy for someone who was sexually assaulted “emotionally”. If someone had tried something like that with my wife, she would have made sure blood flowed. And her supposed sexual assault in the military, where she felt free to publicly sue the SecDef but was too ‘intimidated by the system’ to complain about RAPE? YGBSM!
And she claims a stalker held her hostage in her house...but where is the police complaint? The investigation? Who was this stalker? When, where, who, and why wasn’t it pursued?
The pity is in a couple of years, I may have to choose between voting for this pathetic piece of PC scum or Mr Gabby Giffords....
;>(
Correct in all you said.
McSally’s story has real problems here. On MSNBC and in other articles, she first says that she reported the assault and was treated so badly by the military that “it was like being raped all over again”. Then she later says that she never reported the rape because she was scared and ashamed. Right there, she completely contradicted herself BADLY. She either reported it or she didn’t, she’s not some subatomic particle that can do both, it’s one or the other, period.
First off, she can’t name what officer did it to her (but she somehow knows it was a superior OFFICER, not an enlisted maintenance/logistics/ops guy). She can’t remember when or where. She can’t name who was treating her like crap when she reported it or what paperwork she has from the incident. If you’re going to drop the accusation, you better have your story straight and be ready to spill everything, not have to have it dragged out of you over 6 months. Her behavior is less than convincing here. She’s had at least a decade to think about this and get her story ducks lined up.
And yes, nearly any woman that I was in the military with or associate with regularly would’ve made this guy pay in blood now or at their next meeting, not lodge some lame-assed complaint a decade later. She’s a real warrior, not. If I’m going to entertain a damn thing out of this princess, it had better be good. Her allegation has already started out really bad and that doesn’t usually age like wine. This all comes off like a half-assed political decision to hop on the #MeToo bandwagon and it pisses me off that rape-fakers don’t get prosecuted like Jussie Smollet is right now.