I had been sort of a rising star - an athlete, a scholar, a leader. My dream was to become a high-level national security adviser.

It's part of the reason I decided to speak out now. This was the tipping point for me. If it's O.K. for [David Petraeus ] to campaign for a job in the administration, then I'm going to campaign to get back out there, too.

I think the public doesn't understand that one of the reasons I haven't stood up for myself is because in order to do that, I have to stoop to a level that further humiliates other people.

I'm 100 percent serious. I've been fighting for equality for women's issues my entire life, in the military included.

I'm really happy for [David Petraeus]. He's exceptionally talented.

I was in such a state of mental shock and quickly spiraled into a depression at the multitude of loss. My husband, I thought, was going to leave me. I was cut off from this mentor and someone I cared for very much, David Petraeus, who also did nothing to stand up for me and in fact, empowered his surrogates to throw me under the bus, and that was devastating.

When I fell, some people were in such shock that they didn't reach out. They were so mad at me, rather than having compassion for what happened. I lost a lot of friends.