Amy McGrath

And so I tried to weigh the pros and cons because I wasn't really sure, Nicole, whether I wanted to change my last name.

I had built a reputation in the fighter community, which in the Marine Corps is a small fighter community.

And your name means everything.

Yes.

And on the same side, though, I was very dedicated to my husband.

I grew up Catholic, you know, pretty conservative families.

I wanted to take his name.

You know, that was sort of I was struggling here.

But what made me decide not ultimately not to change my name, my last name in the Marine Corps was when I went to.

in to the admin.

It was like a consolidated admin building.

And I don't know, there were something like 50 or 60 Marines working in there, all administrative Marines.

And I showed them my marriage certificate and I was trying to figure all the benefits and all that stuff out, as you know.

And the staff sergeant, Marine Corps staff sergeant, female staff sergeant, walked right up to me and said,

I'm just telling you, ma'am, don't change your name.

It's a mess.

Your pay gets messed up.

The GI Bill gets messed up.

Your health records get messed up.

They can't find your rifle range qualifications.