| Sarah MacKenzie | Service Record |
| Sarah MacKenzie | |
|---|---|
 | |
| First appearance |
We The People (January 3, 1997) |
| Last appearance |
Fair Winds and Following Seas (April 29, 2005) |
| Portrayed by |
Catherine Bell |
| Information | |
| Rank | Lieutenant Colonel |
| Occupation |
Judge Advocate in the United States Marine Corps |
Lieutenant Colonel Sarah "Mac" MacKenzie, JAGC, USMC was Harmon Rabb's partner from 1997-2005.
When she initially transferred to JAG headquarters. she held the rank of Major, but later then promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. At the end of the series, Mac was selected as commander of Joint Legal Service Center Southwest, a JAG office in San Diego, CA, though she may or may not have actually accepted the position. She and Captain Harmon "Harm" Rabb become engaged and flipped a coin to see who would resign their commission.
Biography
Born in 1966, Sarah MacKenzie had a troubled childhood; her mother abandoned her and her alcoholic father on the night of Mac's 15th birthday. Her father, Joseph MacKenzie, was physically abusive towards her mother, and emotionally and verbally abusive to Mac. As a partial result of this, Mac became an alcoholic in her mid- to late teens and had no contact with her mother until she reappeared at Joseph's deathbed. Mac also learned at this time that her large white mutt, named Ruggles, was abandoned at a boarding house during her mother's travels after fleeing from her abusive father. She showed more sympathy for her father's efforts to be a good dad, pathetic as they were, and more anger at her mother for leaving them to fend for themselves.
Mac mentions at one point that by fifteen she was getting in trouble for drinking and stealing cars. She ran away from home when she was seventeen (her junior year of high school), and apparently married Christopher Ragle a year later. They were both drunk for much of their married life. He was later arrested and sent to prison for motor vehicle theft. At some point, Mac finished high school. On the night of her graduation, she was traveling in a car with her friend Eddie. They were both drunk, and were involved in a car accident that killed Eddie. Mac hit her low as an alcoholic, and her uncle, Colonel Matthew O'Hara, USMC, took her to Red Rock Mesa, Arizona to "dry out." Mac later repaid the debt owed to him by making sure he did not get killed during an incident where he and a group of rogue Marines stole the Declaration of Independence.
After graduating from high school, Mac joined the Marines. After graduating from Officer Candidate School, she was stationed as a First Lieutenant in Okinawa, Japan, as an Administration Officer under John Farrow. It was under his recommendation that the Marine Corps put Mac through law school.
While stationed in Okinawa, Mac engaged in an affair with her superior officer John Farrow. Unbeknownst to Mac, Chris Ragle followed her to Okinawa and discovered the affair. When he caught up to Mac at JAG headquarters, Chris attempted to use this information to blackmail Mac for money. John paid Chris the money he demanded, but Chris threatened to kill him anyway. Mac tried to wrestle the gun out of Chris' hand, but it accidentally went off and killed him instead.
Mac received her Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from the University of Minnesota and her Law Degree from Duke University School of Law, and was subsequently stationed in Bosnia during the war there.
As a Major, she was subsequently assigned to JAG headquarters. It was hinted by Admiral Chegwidden that Mac's assignment as Harm's partner was recommended by his former partner LT Meg Austin, who had transferred from headquarters to another assignment. After a brief absence from JAG in 1998 (during which she worked as an attorney at Lowell, Hanson and Lowne), she was temporarily assigned Head of Administration. Upon her return she was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, partially due to Admiral A.J. Chegwidden's renewal of her recommendation for accelerated promotion.
Mac bore an uncanny resemblance to Lt. Diane Schonke, a Navy officer Harm had been dating before she was murdered, which initially made Harm uneasy, though he soon got past it. However, Mac was unaware of the resemblance until much later, during a case when Harm worked out who had really killed Schonke. Only Harm, Bud, and later, Sturgis Turner, were aware of the resemblance, and none of them said anything. Mac found out by finding a picture of Schonke in Harm's apartment, in an old shoebox. It was then that Harm told her everything. It was also during this time that Mac kept Harm from throwing his career away, by inadvertently appearing as the long deceased Lt. Schonke, showing up on the pier wearing one of Harriet's spare uniforms.
Mac possessed both Cherokee and Iranian ancestry, and was fluent in Persian, as well as speaking Russian very well. She was capable of recognizing a native Iranian speaker by her accent. Her grandmother was Muslim and taught her the basics of Muslim law. She also always knows what the time is, though she never wears a watch. Her friends and co-workers, particularly Harm, asked her on multiple occasions how she did that, and Mac variously replied, "It's a Marine thing," "My grandmother was Swiss," and simply "I don't know."
She and Harm eventually (after years of denial) proclaimed their love to each other and — despite Mac's small chance to have a child — decided to get married. Mac and Harm also decided to be fair about who would remain in service, and who would resign, or retire, by way of a coin flip. It's never revealed who retired and who didn't.
She won the coin toss, they got engaged & moved to San Diego. Eventually they broke up after living separate lives for to long with him serving aboard ships and her stateside. She eventually became the Marine Liaison to the Secretary of State. They haven’t seen each other in nine years. (NCIS: Los Angeles Season 10 Episode 24 "False Flag")
Trivia
Mac constant appears to be pro-feminist and dislikes aviators.