The Thanksgiving Mailbag Episode

Summary

Truth in the Barrel – Thanksgiving Mailbag Episode

Podcast: Truth in the Barrel
Hosts: Amy McGrath (with guest host/producer Bill Sheehy in Denver’s absence)
Date: November 25, 2025
Theme: Thanksgiving traditions, memories, and listener mailbag questions

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Episode Overview

This special pre-Thanksgiving episode offers a warm, personal, and occasionally humorous look at Thanksgiving traditions through the eyes of Amy McGrath and guest host Bill Sheehy. With Denver Riggleman out, Bill leads a cozy “mailbag” session, highlighting listener questions about Amy’s family rituals, military experiences, media favorites, and life wisdom. In a touching twist, Amy’s mother “Dr. McGrath” surprises her with family stories about holidays past. The conversation is light-hearted and candid, blending nostalgia, gratitude, and laughter alongside American history and whiskey appreciation.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Thanksgiving Traditions: Then and Now

• Rotating Thanksgiving Locations (03:33)
  • Amy alternates between her family in Kentucky and her husband’s family in western Maryland each year.
  • Logistics are carefully planned, with everyone contributing a dish, but Amy’s mother remains singularly in charge of the turkey:

    “My mother is very, very good and very particular, shall I say, with the turkey. She wants a certain turkey, a certain size from a certain location. An actual turkey farm...The one from the grocery store is not going to work.” (03:54, Amy)

• Role at Thanksgiving (06:08)
  • Amy admits she takes kitchen orders from her mother rather than having a signature dish:

    “I’m really making whatever mom tells me to make. So whether that’s sweet potatoes or regular potatoes or whatever...” (06:08, Amy)

Memorable Thanksgiving Stories

• Childhood & Family Gatherings (07:40)
  • Recalled spending Thanksgiving with another close family in the woods, full of games and nature, no TV.
• Turkey Trot & Traditions (08:17)
  • Shared memories of the annual six-mile Turkey Trot run across the Kentucky-Cincinnati bridge when she was young and in top shape, gradually evolving from a run to a jog to a walk (08:44).
• Playing Family Football Outside (06:54), or indoor games if weather’s bad.
• Thanksgiving in the Military: Deployed Thanksgiving (19:35)
  • Recalls her “Westpac” deployment:

    “We did Thanksgiving in Okinawa, and we were in an air base called Kadena...you have your Marine Corps family...the USO...bring in the turkeys...try to enjoy Thanksgiving as much as you can” (19:47, Amy)

  • She embraced the sense of camaraderie and simple celebrations, with the USO and local culture shaping the meal.

Family Surprise: Dr. McGrath Calls In

• Tradition of Naming the Turkey (10:54)
  • The youngest kids name the turkey each year before helping stuff and butter it:

    “If they want to help me stuff the turkey, but they have to name it first, and then we have to splatter it all with butter—which no little kid doesn’t love to do.” (11:07, Dr. McGrath)

• Joy of Welcoming Amy Home from the Naval Academy (16:30)
  • Family treks to the airport to greet Amy in uniform.
  • Amy forgets her “cover” (Navy hat) and the family must turn back, risking missing the plane:

    “I forgot my cover! ...I would have gotten yelled at and my life would have been miserable. I would have rather just missed the plane.” (17:23, Amy)

• Games Tradition: Playing “Hearts” and Trivial Pursuit on the living room floor, a favorite with her father (18:16).

Bourbon Tasting (02:01, 14:03)

• Amy’s choice: Green River Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey.
• Bill’s choice: Eagle Rare 10.
• Dr. McGrath prefers Colonel Taylor (14:00):

  “We parcel it out at special times, there’s no doubt.” (14:06, Dr. McGrath)

Listener Mailbag Q&A

Deployed Thanksgivings & Food Abroad

• Okinawa Thanksgiving & Japanese Food (22:03)
  • Amy tried many local dishes, some “phenomenal,” some “a little fishy, a little too squishy.”
  • Non-fan of octopus/squid, loves Japanese sushi but warns:

    “If you go to Japan, and you don’t like wasabi, you have to tell them, because in Japan, they don’t put it on the side. They put it inside the sushi rolls.” (22:54, Amy)

• Australian Crocodile: Chewy and “really not good” (23:36).

Favorite Books (24:54)

• Recently read Blind Man’s Bluff (about Cold War submarine operations).
• Reads multiple books at once, admits to being a “nerd” for history.

Stories for Tough Times (26:05)

• Holds historical stories dear, especially American history:

  “What some Americans went through and sacrificed for us—for posterity, for the future—really matters.” (26:21, Amy)

• Cites the current Ken Burns documentary on the American Revolution.

  “We tend to think the stuff just happened...but the reality is, at the time, that wasn’t the case. We have to stand up...” (27:41, Amy)

Top Gun Accuracy (29:09)

• The “Top Gun” school is real, but movie volleyball? Not so much.
• Cool call signs are more of an Air Force/Navy thing; Marine call signs “usually a joke, mostly making fun of you.” (29:22)

Comfort Movies (31:54)

• The Princess Bride, The Sound of Music, Raiders of the Lost Ark:

  “If it comes on TV, you don’t turn it off...that, to me, is the definition.” (32:20, Amy)

• Star Wars: Loves originals, especially Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi (33:08).

Music & Pump-Up Songs (34:09)

• Listens to her kids’ playlists: Pink, Lady Gaga (“Rain on Me” is a favorite family singalong, 35:06).
• Favorite concert: Alison Krauss (40:17).

Favorite Presidents (35:19)

• Lincoln (“for obvious reasons”), Theodore Roosevelt (for strengthening the Navy), Eisenhower (for his vision of national and global security), FDR (for the Depression and WWII, but not a fan of a four-term presidency).

Advice to Young People (37:39)

• Stay engaged in politics:

  “Politics is all about people, and if you care about people, you got to care about politics... If you’re open and you understand what’s going on, you must stay engaged.” (38:07, Amy)

The Colbert Questionnaire Segment (39:50)

A rapid-fire, lighthearted close, including:

• Best Sandwich: “Cold cut combo, Subway.” (40:01)
• First Concert: Alison Krauss; first movie: Herbie Goes Bananas (40:31)
• Scariest Animal: “I am not a fan of snakes...big, nasty snakes...” (40:53)
• Apples or Oranges: “Apples.” (41:17)
• Ever ask for an autograph? Baseball players as a kid, “Johnny Bench or Pete Rose.” (41:23)
• Favorite Action Movie: Raiders of the Lost Ark (41:57)
• Favorite Smell: “Fire in the fireplace on a really cold winter night...with my husband or my dogs...” (42:20)
• Least Favorite Smell: Her dog Oscar getting sprayed by a skunk—multiple times—worst smell ever (43:09).
• One Song for Life: Alison Krauss’ “When You Say Nothing at All,” danced to with her father at her wedding.

  “He wasn’t able to talk as much, but he said everything through his love and through his hugs, and we communicated in other ways.” (45:11, Amy)

• What Are You Thankful For?

  “Number one, my family... I’m thankful also for the country that we live in. And it has a lot of faults, there’s no doubt. But I’ve been all around the world and there is no better place that I would love to be and have been fortunate enough to grow up in and want to continue to work for than this country.” (46:24)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “If they want to help me stuff the turkey, but they have to name it first, and then we have to splatter it all with butter. And of course, there’s no little kid who doesn’t love to do that.” — Dr. McGrath (11:07)
• On missing her hat before a flight back to the Academy: “I would’ve rather just missed the plane than” return without it. — Amy (17:41)
• On politics and engagement:
  “Politics is all about people, and if you care about people, you got to care about politics. You can’t check out. You have to stay engaged.” — Amy (38:07)
• On favorite song:
  “My father wasn’t able to talk as much, but he said everything through his love and through his hugs, and we communicated in other ways.” (45:11)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:33 — Thanksgiving traditions & turkey logistics
• 07:40 — Childhood Thanksgiving memories
• 10:12 — Dr. McGrath’s surprise appearance & family stories
• 19:35 — Deployed Thanksgivings (Okinawa, USO support)
• 24:54 — Favorite book of the year
• 26:05 — Stories for hard times & the meaning of American history
• 29:09 — How accurate is Top Gun?
• 31:54 — Comfort movies & Star Wars preferences
• 34:09 — Current music & pump-up songs
• 35:19 — Favorite presidents
• 37:39 — Advice to young people on politics
• 39:50 — Colbert Questionnaire rapid-fire segment
• 46:24 — On gratitude: family & country

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Tone & Takeaways

The tone is heartfelt, candid, and familial, with plenty of self-deprecating humor and a sense of reverence for American traditions. Amy’s gratitude, love of country, and personal warmth shine throughout, especially during her mom’s surprise call. Bourbon, family rituals, and the realities of military service are honored alongside a steady embrace of historical perspective and civic engagement.

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Perfect for listeners seeking:

• Behind-the-scenes looks at Thanksgiving (military and civilian)
• Uplifting and nostalgic family stories
• Honest advice for staying civically engaged
• Lighthearted media and pop culture chatter
• A sense of connection, gratitude, and tradition

Transcript

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[Amy McGrath]

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[Amy McGrath]

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[Podcast Host]

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[Amy McGrath]

Forget that.

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[Podcast Host]

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[Amy McGrath]

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[Amy McGrath]

Visit t mobile.com welcome everyone to a special episode of Truth in the Barrel. Today we're doing the mailbag right before Thanksgiving. I'm Amy McGrath and I am here with Bill Sheehy. He is my executive producer and we're going to have a lot of fun today. How you doing, Bill?

[Podcast Host]

I'm hanging in there, Amy. I'm ready to have a drink with you and answer some questions and hear your answers on everything. I'm really, really excited this to be a fun episode.

[Amy McGrath]

Yeah, this is going to be questions from the team and from our listeners today right before the holiday little fun show. Let's start out though with some bourbon, shall we? Bill, why don't you start? What are you partaking with today?

[Podcast Host]

I'm partaking in a Little Eagle Rare 10. This is one of my favorite bourbons. As described by one of my best friend's dads. He said he doesn't talk a lot, but he said it's exquisite. So this is exquisite bourbon that I'm really excited to drink with you. What are you drinking?

[Amy McGrath]

Okay. Well, that's good. A man. A few words to say that about the bourbon is good. You know, I like Green River. I like lots of bourbons in Kentucky, but Green river is one of my favorites. It's out of Owensboro, and I just went to Owensboro a week ago or so and really love it down there. And I love this. This bourbon. Now, this is the rye. So it's Kentucky straight rye whiskey, and it's a little bit different than the. Than the bourbon. That's what I'm drinking today and love it. And so let's start out before we get to the mailbag with the cheers.

[Podcast Host]

Cheers to you.

[Amy McGrath]

All right, let's do it.

[Podcast Host]

All right, Ames, let's get into it. So, because it's a Thanksgiving episode, we wanted to hear a little bit about your Thanksgiving traditions.

[Amy McGrath]

So.

[Podcast Host]

So what does a typical Thanksgiving look like for you now?

[Amy McGrath]

Well, now it's either we spend Thanksgiving here in Kentucky, which is where I'm from, but of course, I'm married, and my husband's from Maryland. And so like any married couple with children, we sort of split the time. Right. So one year will be in Kentucky, the next year we will be in Maryland. My husband's from western Maryland, and we'll drive up there and spend some time with his parents and have Thanksgiving there. But when we have it here, we go over to my mom's house and we have the sort of extended family. They all come in, and it's kind of a, you know, it's a big day. A lot of logistics, as you can imagine, with Thanksgiving. Everybody kind of brings something at this point. But my mother is very, very good and very particular, shall I say, with the turkey. She wants a certain turkey, a certain size from a certain location. An actual turkey farm, you know, the one from the grocery store is not going to work. It's got to be, like, fresh. And then she.

[Podcast Host]

When you say fresh, it's like, is this like she's going out and getting the turkey herself or like, what is. Where is she getting?

[Amy McGrath]

Yeah, the Turk has. Has had, you know, has recently been living, and she. She likes it that way. This is a very long tradition in the McGrath household that we do this. And, you know, my mother is a really, really, really good cook. You know, I'm. I'm A decent cook. I can follow directions really well, and I'm not very good at just kind of, like, figuring it out on my own without directions. But my mother has done this for years, and so everything that she knows is in her head, and it's great. So we just, you know, I go and I help her out usually early in the morning and kind of follow directions. Cool. And help her and the kids come over, and we have nieces and nephews that all come over, and it's a big day. Awesome.

[Podcast Host]

Now, going off of that, you say you follow directions really well when you're cooking. What is your Thanksgiving dish that you're in charge of? What's the one thing that you said you were following directions? You're a decent cook. What's the thing that you're making?

[Amy McGrath]

I'm really making whatever mom tells me to make. So whether that's sweet potatoes or regular potatoes or whatever. You know, honestly, if it is up to me and someone would say, okay, do this dish, I would have to kind of look in the books and figure out how to do it. So for Thanksgiving, I usually just follow directions, and I'll do whatever is whatever I'm told.

[Podcast Host]

Do you have directions for this year? Do you know what you're making yet?

[Amy McGrath]

Nope. Okay. No, I go there. Well, it's more than the day of. It's actually a couple of days prior. You know, we get the turkey a couple days prior, and there's some prep there. Now, we're serious here about this turkey. I mean, it's, you know, you gotta do. You gotta do the gravy from the insides. Right. I mean, this is no joke. And so we work on that a couple days prior. And then the day prior, we sort of do the sides, some of them, so that the day of, we're not overwhelmed, because, you know, on Thanksgiving, you want to enjoy each other. You don't want to be completely exhausted. You don't want to be in front of the stove all day. So, you know, we're watching football. A lot of times we're playing football outside with the kids, or we're playing games inside, depending on the weather. It's a lot of fun. Heck, yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Do you have any favorite Thanksgiving memories from when you were growing up?

[Amy McGrath]

Well, Thanksgiving was always a time to get together with family. And when I was a kid, we had another family that we were very close with. My parents were very close with this other couple, and they had kids our age, and we did Thanksgiving with them every year. And a lot of times we would Go out to the woods and kind of have Thanksgiving dinner at a house out there that we got together in. And it was great. We played games. There wasn't any TV going on then, but we had a lot of fun. And then later on, as I got a little bit older in high school and then at the academy, when I would come home from the Naval Academy Thanksgiving morning, a tradition that I started was, which I don't do anymore, which is running six miles. So I would do the turkey trot. Right. The turkey trot in Northern Kentucky, and it went over the bridge into Cincinnati, and you'd run six miles. And I was in really good shape when I was in high school and then in college in my 20s, before I had children. Right. And. And I would do this every year, and it was great because I'd run six miles and then I'd eat a bunch of turkey. Over the years, that. That run became a jog, and then that jog became a walk.

[Podcast Host]

Well, you earned your Thanksgiving dinner. Like, if you're running six miles, but right before it, that's. That's a lot of dedication.

[Amy McGrath]

Yeah. And now. And now that we have dogs, we. We really don't do that sort of run with lots of. Lots of people anymore. We. Or walk. We. I just take them hiking.

[Podcast Host]

Cool. Awesome.

[Amy McGrath]

So awesome.

[Podcast Host]

That's a great answer. So, you know, we were. We were talking in our staff meeting yesterday, Amy, about possibly having a surprise guest come on and talk about their experience with you growing up in. With their Thanksgiving traditions and everything. And we thought about it for a long time, and our special guest today wants to share some of their favorite Thanksgiving memories with you. So let's. Let's go ahead and get. Bring her. Let's bring her on. There she is. Look who it is.

[Amy McGrath]

There she is.

[Bill Sheehy]

Oh.

[Amy McGrath]

Oh, no.

[Podcast Host]

Are we muted?

[Amy McGrath]

You're muted.

[Podcast Host]

You're mute. Okay. As we were talking about before, we were talking about favorite Thanksgiving memories from when Amy was growing up, and she was very, very complimentary of your. Your turkey making and cooking.

[Bill Sheehy]

Well, that was sort of a compliment and sort of a complaint.

[Podcast Host]

I got all compliment there. That's what I heard.

[Bill Sheehy]

Did you explain that we named every turkey. We named every turkey we had?

[Amy McGrath]

You know, mom, this is called. This is called Truth in the Barrel. So I have to say the truth is that you're a very good, but you're very particular.

[Podcast Host]

Well, if. Do we have a name for this year's turkey then?

[Bill Sheehy]

Not yet, because we were going to let the kids. The little kids now the littlest kids in my extended family now are Amy's children, because my other children, Children, my grandchildren, are older, so they don't get to do that. And the little kids are the ones that traditionally get to. If they want to help me stuff the turkey, but they have to name it first, and then we have to splatter it all with butter. And of course, there's no little kid who doesn't love to do that. And we've been doing that for a long time.

[Podcast Host]

Heck, yeah.

[Bill Sheehy]

So we'll wait and see what the kids want to do.

[Podcast Host]

And is there a particular memory of Amy that comes to mind from Thanksgiving? It can be embarrassing, it can be fun, it can be funny. Whatever you feel like is the right answer. Here you go. What is it?

[Bill Sheehy]

My two other children, Amy's sister and brother, would fight me for this because they have lots of memories of AM At Thanksgiving time. But, you know, really, Thanksgiving at our house has always been about family. And wherever we had family that lived within a day's driving distance, really, because much of my family was originally from Pennsylvania, but I now have brothers and sisters all over the country. And so anybody who happened to be passing by would. Would join us for Thanksgiving. And very often, if the kids had special friends whose families might not be having a celebration, they'd invite them. So we almost always had extras at our house for Thanksgiving dinner and for Thanksgiving Day, for that matter, because we kind of all. All did our things, and our things were mostly when the children were younger, playing outside, and mostly football outside. Yeah, the older people would watch the football inside on the tv.

[Podcast Host]

But did you ever play?

[Bill Sheehy]

No, I. I would watch, but in that.

[Amy McGrath]

I don't.

[Bill Sheehy]

That running and walking has not. Never been my thing too much. I kind of.

[Amy McGrath]

I can pass. Will. I knew you were with us in spirit, and you were with us in spirit, Mom.

[Bill Sheehy]

That's true.

[Amy McGrath]

And speaking of spirits, do you happen to have your. I know you have a bottle of really good bourbon.

[Bill Sheehy]

Well, you know, because you.

[Amy McGrath]

Right around the corner in your house, because I usually when I come over, it's Colonel Taylor, right? Are you.

[Podcast Host]

You got Colonel Taylor?

[Amy McGrath]

You Dr. McGrath.

[Podcast Host]

Come on. I didn't know you were a connoisseur. That's awesome.

[Bill Sheehy]

Well, I wasn't until I got this as a gift from. From a dear, dear friend, family of mine, and. And boy, I. We parcel it out at special times. There's no doubt.

[Podcast Host]

Perfect.

[Bill Sheehy]

But, yeah, you know, when Amy was very young, that's. That's what they did. They played. They spent the day a lot of the day outside, but as she got older and so forth, she really was. Did more inside. And her dad, you know, my husband absolutely loved Thanksgiving, but he loved almost any time that he liked that we could celebrate something. And he loved celebrating family, and especially at a time when. When he could take them to a parade or have them watch a parade. And so every Thanksgiving morning, all three of the kids were expected to spend a certain amount of time with him in front of the television watching the Macy's Thanksgiving parade. Now, the kids enjoyed parades in person when they were really little, but they tended to get old. And in Cincinnati with the Reds and so on and so forth, you know, we have a lot of parades, and we live right across the river from Cincinnati, so they were not at every parade that ever was in Cincinnati when they were little. But as, you know, as time went on, Amy's went to the academy. You know, we didn't see her really until Thanksgiving, I mean, when she went off for the beginning of the school year. And in those days, you know, we didn't have cell phones and we didn't have immediate contact with her, and if we got a brief phone call occasionally, not even once a week, it was really treasured time. So, you know, when she flew in for Thanksgiving, her dad celebrated her coming before she ever got here. And there were times we all went out to the airport to greet her. And of course, when she came, she was wearing her uniform, which in those days was. It was like this big surprise. But. But you talk about a memory. Do you remember the first year that when you were a plea. When you came home for Thanksgiving and we started off to the airport to take her back reluctantly, didn't want to do it, but we had to, of course, because the Army Navy game was coming up, and everybody knows that's the big thing of the year as a Naval academy. But we were halfway to the airport and Amy had this panicked yell. I forgot my cover. That's what they called there.

[Amy McGrath]

Yeah.

[Bill Sheehy]

Their hats, you know, And God forbid that we didn't turn around right then and there and go back, because you could never appear after Thanksgiving or any time in uniform without your cover.

[Podcast Host]

Sure.

[Amy McGrath]

I mean, I was a plebe. I was a freshman. And I would have gotten yelled at and my life would have been miserable. I would have rather just missed the plane than.

[Bill Sheehy]

Well, and that's exactly what we risk.

[Amy McGrath]

At the time, going back there to.

[Bill Sheehy]

Get the darn cover. And you made the plane before. You just barely made it.

[Amy McGrath]

I tell you. True.

[Podcast Host]

I love that. That's amazing. That's a wonderful memory.

[Amy McGrath]

Well, thank you.

[Podcast Host]

I think it's fine. You know, I don't.

[Amy McGrath]

I actually don't remember that. Some things you just block out.

[Bill Sheehy]

Oh, yes, because I know that was a big thing, you know. Well, you would prefer to remember things like that. The playing hearts on the living room floor. Again. Something that Don, my husband, loved to do with the kids. And as soon as they were old enough to learn, they would play hearts. Everybody would play hearts.

[Amy McGrath]

Well.

[Bill Sheehy]

And.

[Amy McGrath]

Or Trivial Pursuit.

[Bill Sheehy]

Oh, that's true. We got into that, too.

[Amy McGrath]

Yeah. That was fun.

[Bill Sheehy]

We had good times.

[Podcast Host]

That's wonderful. That's wonderful. Well, Dr. McGrath, thank you so much for surprising Amy. I appreciate your time. I appreciate you be willing to come on and. And talk about favorite Thanksgiving memories.

[Bill Sheehy]

Oh, yeah.

[Podcast Host]

But we will talk with you later. Thank you so much for coming.

[Amy McGrath]

All right, I'll see you soon, Mom.

[Bill Sheehy]

Yeah.

[Amy McGrath]

Bye.

[Podcast Host]

Bye. Take care, Doc. I thought that'd be fun. You know, that's. I. I know you like to be prepared. A little surprise every now and then is a good thing.

[Amy McGrath]

That's great.

[Podcast Host]

That's awesome.

[Amy McGrath]

That's great.

[Podcast Host]

Well, let's. So we've talked a little bit about what Thanksgiving looked like at home, what it looks like now. I think a lot of people would like to know what Thanksgiving looks like when you're deployed.

[Amy McGrath]

So.

[Podcast Host]

What. What. What did that look like when you were deployed? How did you guys celebrate? And what's one Thanksgiving memory from when you were in the military that, like, really stands out to you?

[Amy McGrath]

Well, the. The one big deployment when I was gone for Thanksgiving and I was gone for Christmas and New Year's was what's called a Westpac deployment. So a lot of my Middle east deployments happened between, like, February and October of those years. And so I was fortunate during the Middle east deployments, the combat deployments, to actually come home for the holidays, which was amazing. But there was one year when I did what's called a Westpac deposit deployment. That is a deployment where you do the western Pacific. Okay? So your. Your squadron flies out from California, and you spend six months in Japan. You spend a lot of the time in Japan, but you're also in Guam, in Australia. You do some time potentially in South Korea, and so in those areas all around the western Pacific. And one year, we did a Westpac, and we did Thanksgiving in Okinawa, and we were in an air base called Kadena. And you. You really. Of course, you're away from your family, but you have your Marine Corps family. And usually a squadron does a really good job of having a really great meal. Wherever you're at, whether you have to go out for that meal or usually you stay on base in the. The uso. Okay, that's the. The group that really helps active duty military members kind of feel like they're still at home. You know, they'll bring in things like, you know, the turkeys and that sort of thing and help you help the squadrons, help the units. So I just remember being there and being amongst, you know, my fellow Marines and. And trying to enjoy Thanksgiving as much as we could, you know, during that day. We didn't fly there during that time. We took the day off. Heck, yeah.

[Podcast Host]

When you were in Okinawa in Japan, was there any kind of food or, like, snacks, drink, or anything that you had while you were there that, like, really stood out, that you either liked or were like, that's interesting. Or like, what was that?

[Amy McGrath]

Yeah, well, I mean, when you can't. You can't get deployed to Japan and not see and taste everything Japanese. Right. So there are many times when you go out in town, and of course, you. I, you know, I don't read Japanese, so I couldn't read the menus a lot. So you're looking at sort of pictures and you're like, what is that? Maybe I'll try that. And I have to admit, there were some things that were just phenomenal, and I still don't know what they are. And then there are some things where it was a little bit fishy, a little bit too squishy for me. And so I'm not a super fan of, like, squid or octopus. I did try it when I was overseas. Not a fan. But I do like sushi. And if you know Japanese, like, sushi from Japan is amazing. Not a fan of wasabi. So you have to, like, if you go to Japan, and this is like, just pointers for anybody listening. If you go to Japan and you don't like wasabi, you have to tell them, because in Japan, they don't put it on the side. They put it inside the sushi rolls.

[Podcast Host]

It's like, really?

[Amy McGrath]

Every single sushi roll? Yeah. So you have to, like, really tell them that or it just destroys it for me at least. So those are. Those are kind of some of the things. And then when I went to Australia, I did try crocodile.

[Podcast Host]

Interesting.

[Amy McGrath]

That was. I did not really, like, it was very.

[Podcast Host]

Is it like. Have you had gator before? Is it kind of like that where, like, it kind of.

[Amy McGrath]

I've had gator before had gator, but it was, it was very chewy. I just say that was really not good.

[Podcast Host]

Before I had it, they, everyone just said it just tastes like chicken. So crocodile does not taste like chicken.

[Amy McGrath]

It could taste like chicken. It tastes like a really. It tastes like rubber. Like, it's just. I don't know. It was, it wasn't, wasn't my favorite. But of course I loved, you know, Japan. Sake in Japan is great. Japanese beer. Asahi. I love Asahi. And it's just, you know, it was great. It was great. Six, six months. Even though I was there over Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's, I want.

[Podcast Host]

To transition a little bit more into kind of questions from people, people that, like, commented on our social media and everything. Sure. So let's. I want to hear your answer to this from Dalton Belcher. What is the most impactful book you've read this year? Or what is your favorite book that you've read this year?

[Amy McGrath]

That's a good question. I have read lots of books. I just finished one on and I know, and I've said this before, I'm kind of a nerd and I love history. And so I read a book about, called Blind Man's Bluff. It's about the submarine force in the Cold War and all of the sort of top secret things that our silent Service, our submarine force did during the Cold War, which I really didn't know anything about. That was pretty fascinating to me. I am currently. I'm kind of like one of those people that reads multiple books at the same time and like audiobooks at the same time too. So I'm kind of in the middle of lots of different ones right now. But that one was one that I just finished a little bit ago. It was really good.

[Podcast Host]

Nice. All right, let's do this one from Jared Bachman Stubbs. He's Jared the Gray Jedi on Instagram.

[Amy McGrath]

Okay.

[Podcast Host]

He asked. During trying times, the power of storytelling tends to lift us up and steal us from the trials to come. What stories do you hold dear or take to during a time like this, when our resolve needs to be stronger than ever?

[Amy McGrath]

I think the stories that I hold dear are the true stories of American history. I'm a big history buff. I think certain people are connected to history and I'm one of them. Meaning in a sense that I really love to try to learn and understand what history, people who lived 50 years ago, 100 years ago, 200 years ago, what they went through in their struggles. So when I think about everything that's going on today, I like to look back at some other times in history and recognize that what some Americans went through and sacrificed for us, for posterity, for the future, really matters. So right now we have the Ken Burns documentary happening on PBS on the American Revolution. And you think you know history because you studied it in, I don't know, like, 8th grade or high school, or maybe you took a course in college, maybe you've read a few books. But I think it's really important to go back and watch some of these documentaries because it's really amazing. The one thing we tend to grow up and we tend to think that the stuff just happened and the chips just fell. They were always going to fall that way. We were always going to have a revolution. The north was always going to win the Civil War. We were always going to win World War II. But the reality is, at the time, that wasn't the case. And lots of things, and lots of people sacrificed and made important decisions and really risked to have those things turn out the way they did. And so if that makes sense to you, that's what I think. I come back to today when things sometimes are bleak and that we cannot just sit back and just watch the things that we know are wrong happen. We have to stand up. We have to do whatever we can. That's what previous generations of Americans have done.

[Podcast Host]

Great answer. We've been having a lot of fun. We've been talking about Thanksgiving, specific questions, but I think I want to transition a little more into kind of general questions. So my first question for you, and this was a team effort, how accurate is Top Gun?

[Amy McGrath]

Well, it depends on what you're talking about, right? I mean, if you have a specific question about Top Gun, I can answer that. How accurate is it? So throw the. Throw the specific question out. And if it's not specific, I'll try to.

[Podcast Host]

So I know the nicknames are right, but, like, how often do you guys have volleyball matches on the beach? Is that like a. Is that something that you guys lead with?

[Amy McGrath]

That part is not super accurate. Nor. Nor is it super accurate to say that, you know, to. To rip off your shirt for the guys and have them look all, like, ripped like that.

[Podcast Host]

That's not. That's not common.

[Amy McGrath]

Not super accurate. There are some that are, I will admit, but many are not. I. I think that. Look, there. There is a school called Top Gun. It's Naval Fighter Weapons School. It's used to be in Miramar. It is now in Fallon, Nevada. And there's also a Marine Corps version of this. It's out of Yuma, Arizona. I went through the Marine Corps version, which was called at the time, MDTC Marine Division Tactics Course. And that was one of the hardest things I ever did in the military was that course. It was absolutely one of the hardest things I ever did. But there's a lot that the movie is. First of all, you don't go right from graduating from a place called Top Gun and then deploy immediately to fight some bandit somewhere. The whole point of Top Gun is to take people to train them to be the trainers for the fleet. So those people that go there, they get qualified, and then they go back to their units and they train their units. Okay. But it is obviously a very prestigious school. You do get call signs. You get call signs when you get out to the fleet. And, you know, in Top Gun, all the call signs were pretty cool. In the real world, especially in the Marine Corps, your call sign isn't always about how it's not always a cool thing. It's mostly making fun of of you. So in the Air Force, they have cool call signs. In the Navy, they're kind of cool. And in the Marine Corps, it's usually a joke.

[Podcast Host]

That seems for the Marines people in the Navy and the people in the Air Force that I know that makes sense, and that tracks. So that feels. That feels right to me. Let's see, what else do we want to talk about? Okay, here we go. What is your favorite movie or comfort movie that you come back to over and over again? If you have one. If you don't, that's fine.

[Amy McGrath]

Okay. Comfort movie. Okay. Well, I will say I have a lot of favorite movies. Okay. So it's hard to narrow it down to just one. And I love the Princess Bride. It's kind of a classic. I just love it. I can watch it. And I guess when you think about favorite movie, it's one that if it comes on tv, you don't turn it off.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Amy McGrath]

You've seen it a hundred times. And instead of like, I've seen this a hundred times, you're like, oh, I'm gonna sit down and watch it again. That, to me, is the definition of okay. So I think that one is one. Another one is the Sound of Music. I love the Sound of Music. Call me a SAP, Call me a romantic. I don't know. I love. I love that movie. I watch it every time. Are you a musical? Raiders of the Lost Ark.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, come on.

[Amy McGrath]

Another one I love.

[Podcast Host]

That's kind of.

[Amy McGrath]

And they're totally different, right? I mean, Raiders, the Lost Ark, Sound of Music. Way, way different.

[Podcast Host]

But this is a personal question for me then. Have you seen Star wars? And do you like Star Wars?

[Amy McGrath]

Sure, of course I've seen Star Wars. I'm an American.

[Podcast Host]

How many have you seen and do you have a favorite Star wars movie?

[Amy McGrath]

I've seen them all. Okay, the favorite. That's a good question. I. I kind of like the original ones, probably because I grew up on them. And then we had what we have, the prequels when I was growing up, and then we had the three after. I don't know, I never got into them as much. But I do like Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Heck, yeah, probably are my favorite.

[Podcast Host]

That's a good answer. Thank you for indulging me. I appreciate that. Moving from movies. Let's talk a little bit about music. What are you listening to right now? And do you have a pump up song right now that gets you, like, you're about to go to a fundraiser, you're about to get on a podcast. You want to feel good? Is there anything that you're listening to right now that pumps you up and gets you ready for that?

[Amy McGrath]

Well, because I have moved in my life from, like, it being just about me to being mostly about my children. I listen to whatever the kids want. And because they know how to get on my Apple music and make playlists and everything, whenever we get in the car, they turn their own playlist on. And the one that we listen to the most is usually the one that my daughter puts on. She's really into music, so I'm not sure that it's my favorite, but I like them. I kind of. I get veto power. Let's just say that. So, you know, she will put on a lot of pink, a lot of Lady Gaga, and I listen to that stuff.

[Podcast Host]

Do you have a favorite? I have to ask now, do you have a favorite Lady Gaga song?

[Amy McGrath]

I don't know if there's a favorite. The one we keep playing is Rain on Me. Okay. We like that one and we know all the words and we'll sing it together. So, you know, that's kind of where we go.

[Podcast Host]

That's wonderful. Let's, you know, you talked a little bit about your love of history. Do you have a favorite president? And why is that your. Why do you have that choice?

[Amy McGrath]

That is also a good question. I think everybody seems to have a favorite president of Abraham Lincoln for obvious reasons, and I think he is probably number one in my book too. But I also have great respect for Teddy Roosevelt, who built up our Navy, or started, I should say, the buildup of our Navy. And I think that was really important for our national security and our power in the world. And I have great respect for FDR and Eisenhower. Eisenhower, because he was a military guy who recognized that, and he was a Republican, but he recognized that you really need government to do certain things. And he was good at compromising to make government work. He also saw national security, things that needed to happen, that we needed to do for our country. And that, I think, was really important. Not going back to isolationism, for example, maintaining presence around the world. He saw that to be important. And I think that was visionary. Fdr, because he got us through the Great Depression and a world war. Although I'm not a fan of four terms of the president, so I think it's probably good that we capped at a two. But I think he was pretty good.

[Podcast Host]

Okay, wonderful. All right, before we transition into our last little segment, I want you to put your professor hat on for a second. What would you tell young people right now who are feeling defeated or left behind by today's political climate?

[Amy McGrath]

I would say what I was told by one of my lifelong mentors when I was thinking about getting into politics. And I was worried. At the time, I was in the military, and I was worried that politics was considered something that was dirty, that was a place for people without integrity, and I was worried about that. And I remember going and asking this person, what do you think if I made this leap from the United States Marine Corps to politics, would I lose myself? What do you think about that? And he said to me, you know, politics is all about people, and if you care about people, you got to care about politics. You can't. It's all the same. And so I would say to young people, you can't check out. You have to stay engaged. Because if you care about people and you care about the rest of society and you care about your neighbor and the kind of country that you want to see, you have to stay engaged. That's what I would tell them. It's not. It's not a. It's not a. Oh, I'd like to do this. It's a must. If you. If you're open and you understand what's going on, you must stay engaged. You have to.

[Podcast Host]

Great answer. Love that. All right, our last segment that we're going to do today. As you know, Amy, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. One of my heroes, Stephen Colbert, has this segment on the Late show that he calls the Colbert Questionnaire as you pour your head for more questions. And I think it would be fun for you to take the Colbert questionnaire. So. Okay, stick with me.

[Amy McGrath]

Okay.

[Podcast Host]

They're gonna be kind of fast. Fast questions. Amy McGrath, what is the best sandwich?

[Amy McGrath]

Cold cut combo, Subway.

[Podcast Host]

What was your first concert?

[Amy McGrath]

Oh, my gosh, I don't know.

[Podcast Host]

Or what's your favorite concert?

[Amy McGrath]

Well, I, I like Allison Krauss, so I've gone to. When I was in the military, I would. I would try to go see her every year, Alison Krause. But I do know, I do remember my first movie.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, what was that?

[Amy McGrath]

And that was Herbie Goes Bananas.

[Podcast Host]

Never heard of.

[Amy McGrath]

But you never heard of it because you're too young. But saying that, you didn't have to. Yeah, I'm sorry. I think it was like 1980 or something like that. And that was like, the first movie I saw was Drive, Drive in.

[Podcast Host]

What is the scariest animal?

[Amy McGrath]

I am not a fan of snakes. And so I think, you know, your, your cobras, your really nasty rattlesnake type, you know, I breed big, nasty snakes that would be very scary for Amy.

[Podcast Host]

Apples or oranges?

[Amy McGrath]

Apples.

[Podcast Host]

Have you ever asked someone for their autograph?

[Amy McGrath]

Oh, yeah. Yeah. When I was a kid, I mean, I was. I was a big fan of sports, so I would ask, you know, baseball players, and we never went to football games. We couldn't afford it, but. But we went to baseball games and we would. We would often, you know, stick out a piece of paper to, you know, Johnny Bench or Pete Rose, get there and try to get their autograph. Yeah. Heck, yeah.

[Podcast Host]

We were talking about favorite movies and all that earlier. What's your favorite action movie?

[Bill Sheehy]

Hmm.

[Amy McGrath]

I don't know if I probably. Raiders of the Lost Ark. I'll have that. Consider that.

[Podcast Host]

That's a great action.

[Amy McGrath]

I really loved that one.

[Podcast Host]

They're. This is going to get a little weird, so I'm sorry in advance. Favorite smell.

[Amy McGrath]

I. I love the smell of a fire in the fireplace on a really cold winter night when, you know, you're curled up with, you know, my husband or one of the kids or, gosh, my dogs. And, you know, you just sit there and you got a good book and it's after a long day, you've done hiking or you've done some. Some kind of exercise, and you just love it. I love that.

[Podcast Host]

Going off that. What's your.

[Amy McGrath]

Throw some bourbon in there.

[Podcast Host]

Okay.

[Amy McGrath]

There you go.

[Bill Sheehy]

Perfect.

[Podcast Host]

Going off of that. What's your least favorite smell?

[Amy McGrath]

I think my. So Oscar is our 5 year old dog and he is awesome. He's an awesome Labrador retriever. However, not the brightest bulb. And he. When he was about a year, year and a half. Well, no, maybe he was. No, he was older. It was like two and a half. He cornered a skunk and he got sprayed in the neck like six times. And it was. The poor guy, it was like he got tear gassed. I mean, he was just, it was, it was terrible. He had to spend the night. That happened at like midnight. He had to spend the night outside. I wouldn't let him in the house. I mean he was, it was like absolutely terrible. Not only did this happen once, but it happened like six months later. He never learned his lesson.

[Bill Sheehy]

No.

[Amy McGrath]

And so he, I guess he found the same skunk and decided he was going to go at him and him and again. And I think that was probably the worst because it was so bad that we really couldn't even get the smell out for like a month. I mean it was, it was good enough where we could get it down to let him back in the house after a day or so after we retreated him. But really he smelled pretty bad for.

[Podcast Host]

A long time going off that. I remember I would spend my summers up on my aunt's farm in Wisconsin. And to that end her dog Mary got sprayed with a skunk at like 2am and I remember. And she walked it. The minute she walked in the house, I was up like. Because like you could, you could tell immediately that I'm with you on that. That's probably mine as well. You get.

[Amy McGrath]

I don't think there's anything worse, honestly. Yeah, I really don't.

[Podcast Host]

I agree. You get one song to listen to for the rest of your life. What is it? Blame Colbert. Don't blame me. This is. These are his questions.

[Amy McGrath]

Well, there is a song from Alison Krause called when you say nothing at all. And it is the song that my father and I danced to at my wedding. And I love that song. My father had had cancer in the bone structure of his face years before I got married, I guess, I don't know, seven or eight years maybe before. And so he had a hard time communicating. And so that was a song that I really love. But it spoke to me and it reminds me of dad because he wasn't able to talk as much, but he said everything through his love and through his hugs and we communicated in other ways. So I love that song and, and that's what I would say.

[Podcast Host]

This is a hard transition. I'm really sorry.

[Amy McGrath]

All Right.

[Podcast Host]

What are you thankful for, Amy?

[Amy McGrath]

I'm thankful for, I think, number one, my family, who have been so supportive through all the endeavors that I've tried to do in my life. But I'm thankful also for the country that we live in. And it has a lot of faults, there's no doubt. But I've been all around the world and there is no better place that I would love to be and have been fortunate enough to grow up in and want to continue to work for than this country. So I'm thankful for that right now.

[Podcast Host]

That's amazing. That's all I got for you.

[Amy McGrath]

Awesome. Well, this has been fun.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Amy McGrath]

And next mailbag, we should get some tough questions. You know, I like tough questions.

[Podcast Host]

You didn't think those were tough?

[Amy McGrath]

They are pretty tough. They are pretty tough.

[Podcast Host]

We spent hours on those.

[Amy McGrath]

They're very tough.

[Podcast Host]

Bill.

[Amy McGrath]

I enjoy this and it's been a lot of fun. I know that you all and the team work very hard on this podcast and we hope listeners have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We hope listeners are thankful for whatever it is in their lives. And I'm thankful also to the team for putting together such amazing quality work every week where we have some great interviews and we're looking forward to December. We've got a lot coming up and into next year. Yes, ma'. Am.

[Podcast Host]

And if I can say what I'm thankful for, Amy, I'm thankful for you for trusting me with this. There's a Dick Van Dyke quote that I love. He was interviewed recently. He was talking about being an actor and having fun and being silly. I got paid to do something I was going to do anyway. Thank you for letting me do this. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do it. This has been a lot of fun and thank you so much for everything that you do for us.

[Amy McGrath]

Awesome. Cheers and happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

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[Bill Sheehy]

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[Podcast Host]

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[Bill Sheehy]

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[Podcast Host]

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