Amy McGrath

Amy McGrath
Personal details
Born	1975 (age 49–50) Cincinnati, Ohio U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Education	United States Naval Academy Johns Hopkins University
Occupation	Aircraft pilot
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1997–2017
Rank	Lieutenant colonel

Amy McGrath-Henderson (born in 1975) is an American politician and former Marine fighter pilot. She was the first female Marine to fly in an F/A-18 on a combat mission. McGrath served for 20 years in the Marine Corps during which time she flew 89 combat missions bombing al Qaeda and the Taliban. In 2016, she was inducted into the Aviation Museum of Kentucky's Hall of Fame and her military story is described in Band of Sisters: American Women at War in Iraq. McGrath is the Democratic nominee for Kentucky's 6th congressional district in the 2018 election running against Republican incumbent Andy Barr.

Early life and education

McGrath was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. She grew up in the northern part of Kentucky in Edgewood and Covington, Kentucky, and has an older sister and brother. Her father, Donald McGrath, is a retired teacher who taught high school English in Cincinnati for 40 years. Her mother, Marianne McGrath, is a medical doctor and was one of the first women to graduate from the University of Kentucky's medical school, working as a pediatrician at Children's Hospital of Cincinnati before going into private practice. McGrath's mom went back to school to became a psychiatrist after the physical demands of being a doctor were too much for her, as she suffered from post-polio syndrome after contracting polio as a child.

McGrath attended St. Pius X Middle School, a Catholic school in Edgewood, Kentucky. In 1993, McGrath graduated from the all girls Catholic high school, Notre Dame Academy, where she played high school varsity soccer, basketball, baseball and was captain of the soccer team her senior year. In her senior year, she received a superintendent's discretionary appointment to the United States Naval Academy, the same year Congress lifted the ban on female fighter pilots.

In 1997, McGrath graduated from the United States Naval Academy with a BS in political science. While at the Academy as a senior, McGrath was Midshipman Director of the Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Conference. McGrath earned a MA in international and global security from Johns Hopkins University. She also received a graduate certificate in Legislative Studies from Georgetown University.

During her time in the military, McGrath graduated from the Marine Amphibious Warfare School (AWS) (now known as Expeditionary Warfare School (EWS)), Marine Fighter Weapons Division Tactics Course, and Marine Corps Command and Staff College.

Career

Soccer

At the United States Naval Academy, McGrath was a member of the first women's varsity soccer team.

Military

After graduating from the Naval Academy, at the age of 21 McGrath was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. In 1999, she completed flight school and started her career as a Weapons Systems Officer in the F/A-18 aircraft. McGrath had found out she didn't have 20/20 vision, which meant she couldn't become a pilot, but as a WSO, coordinated weapons including air-to-air AMRAAM missiles and heat-seeking Sidewinders. She was assigned to Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 121. When McGrath and fellow Marine pilot, Jaden Kim, joined VMFA-121, they became the first female aviators to join the squadron.

After the 9/11 attacks, McGrath, as a junior WSO, was one of the first to report to duty at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar base, and was paired with a senior pilot on the flight line waiting for the order to potentially shoot down one of the hijacked aircrafts, an order that did not come to pass.

In March 2002, McGrath was deployed to Manas, Kyrgyzstan for a six-month tour, during which she flew 51 combat missions in a F/A-18D in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. She was the first woman to fly a combat mission in the United States Marine Corps.

In January 2003, stationed in Kuwait, McGrath flew in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq, where she provided air support to ground troops and conducted reconnaissance and air strikes.

After being promoted to Captain, McGrath transitioned from Weapons Systems Officer to pilot after getting laser eye surgery to correct her vision and completed flight school in 2004. During 2005 and 2006, she was deployed on a second tour of duty over Afghanistan with Squadron 121. During this time she became the first female pilot to fly the F/A-18 in combat for the U.S. Marine Corps. In 2007, she was promoted from captain to major. From 2007 to 2009, she was deployed to East Asia.

In 2010, she served a second tour in Afghanistan with the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing in Helmand Province.

During her military career, McGrath flew at least 2,000 flight hours, and was on over 85 combat missions. She also flew in many exercises in the U.S., Alaska, Egypt, Australia, Korea, and Japan.

In 2011, McGrath shifted state-side, working as Congressional Fellow to Representative Susan Davis' (D-CA) office in Washington, D.C., as a defense and foreign affairs advisor.

From 2012 to 2013, McGrath worked at the Pentagon at the Headquarters Marine Corps, Strategy & Plans Division, International Affairs Branch as a Marine Corps liaison to the Department of State and the US Agency for International Development.

In 2016, McGrath taught political science at the United States Naval Academy in Anapolis, Maryland.

McGrath retired from the armed forces on June 1, 2017.

Politics

On August 2, 2017, McGrath announced that she was running for the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky's 6th congressional district as a Democrat in the 2018 election. The video announcing her run had over one million views on YouTube by August 3, 2017.

In the video, McGrath called out her opponent Andy Barr and Mitch McConnell, who was putting forth GOP's attempts to take healthcare away from Kentucky citizens. McGrath highlighted her mother's struggles with recovering from polio and being a medical professional as part of why she is against these efforts.

McGrath won the Democratic Party primary on May 22, 2018.

Personal life

McGrath was inspired to become a military aviator at a young age, especially after visiting the National Museum of the United States Air Force. She said that she was inspired to be a fighter pilot when she was a 7th grader in middle school when she studied aviation in World War II, and her family often visited Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. In 1987 when she was 12 years old, without telling her parents, McGrath wrote to the United States Naval Academy to ask when women would be able to fly in combat. The Naval Academy responded by calling McGrath's mother, saying that he didn't think women could become fighter pilots. This motivated McGrath, who had also written to representatives in the House, the Senate, and the Armed Services Committee asking for this to change. McGrath got a response from Congressman Jim Bunning, who recommended McGrath focus on positions that were more in line with women.

McGrath is married to retired naval Lieutenant Commander Erik Henderson and has three children. Henderson is a life-long Republican, and as Kentucky holds closed party primaries, he could not vote for her in the 2018 primary.

Honors and awards

• 2007: Notre Dame Academy, Women Making a Difference Award
• Meritorious Service Medal
• Strike/Flight Air Medals – 8
• Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medal
• Navy Achievement Medal
• Presidential Unit Citation
• Iraq Campaign Medal
• Afghanistan Campaign Medal
• 2016: Aviation Museum of Kentucky, Hall of Fame

Further reading

• Holmstedt, Kirsten A.; Duckworth, L. Tammy (foreword by) (2007). "Call Sign: "Krusty"". Band of Sisters: American Women at War in Iraq. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. pp. 81–114. ISBN 978-0-811-74011-1. OCLC 773829868.
• Amy McGrath at Makers: Women Who Make America

External links

• Official website
• Amy McGrath on Twitter