In seventh grade, when many adolescents are focused on developing their social lives and worrying about what their peers think of them, Amy McGrath discovered a dream: becoming a fighter pilot.
Her memoir, Honor Bound: An American Story of Dreams and Service, details how her dream began with a research project in American History where she chose to focus on World War II aircraft.
“I researched everything I possibly could on that and found out relatively quickly that there were no women doing these jobs and I really didn't understand why,” she said to WBUR radio. “I was about 12 years old and I thought to myself, ‘That's a really cool job. Why are there no women doing this?'”
The answer, simply, was because it just wasn’t allowed, and she should find something else to do. At least that was the answer Young McGrath received from a Congressman after writing him a letter asking why there weren’t women combat pilots. Unsatisfied and persistent, she doubled down on her letter-writing campaign to the government, continued to receive stellar grades, and received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy just as the combat exclusion for women in aviation positions was lifted.
After that, the sky was literally the limit. McGrath was the first woman to fly a combat mission for the Marine Corps, as well as the first woman to pilot the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, a twin-engine, supersonic, all-weather, carrier-capable, multirole combat jet. She spent 20 years in the Marine Corps and flew 89 combat missions against al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
McGrath entered politics after retiring from the military. She served as a Congressional Fellow advising a senior member of the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee on defense and foreign policy. In 2018 and 2020, she ran in the U.S. House and Senate races in Kentucky but lost both. She identifies as a moderate Democrat and fiscal conservative. McGrath is pro-choice, has acknowledged the climate change crisis as a matter of national security, believes in gun control and mandatory background checks on firearms sales, has stated support for widespread policing reforms, and supports term limits in the Senate.