Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Lieutenant junior grade is a junior commissioned officer rank used in a number of navies.
United States
Lieutenant (junior grade), commonly abbreviated as LTJG or, historically, Lt. (j.g.) (as well as variants of both abbreviations), i ...
Megan Austin (
USN), is a main character from the first season of the television series ''
JAG'' portrayed by actress
Tracey Needham.
Character Biography
Meg Austin was the second partner to Lieutenant
Harmon Rabb
Harmon 'Harm' Rabb, Jr. is a fictional character and lead role in the American television series '' JAG''. The character was created by Donald P. Bellisario, as a work for hire for Paramount Television, in the script for the ''JAG'' pilot episo ...
, replacing then
Lieutenant JG Caitlin Pike. She is from
Texas and inherited a friendship from her deceased father, an obscure character very well connected in the
intelligence community named "Ollie" in clear reference to
Oliver North (portrayed by himself on three episodes in 1995, 1996 and 2002), who knew her father and who helped her on some of their investigations. She also proved to have superior computer skills to both Rabb and Kate due to a previous stint in weapons and computer R&D. We also find out in her first episode that she has extreme
claustrophobia (fear of confined spaces), which was a continual problem for her character. After her departure from JAG headquarters, she also recommended that
Bud be placed on JAG staff.
Awards and decorations
The list below contains Austin's known awards current as of the end of season 1. The names are given in order of precedence, according to SECNAVINST 1650.1F and the U.S. Navy Uniform Regulations (NAVPERS 1566.5G).
Background
The executives at
NBC didn't like
Andrea Parker's character (
Caitlin Pike) in the pilot, so they had to recast Rabb's partner for the series. Andrea Parker went on to work on ''
The Pretender'' but came back to guest star on a few episodes later in the season.
When ''JAG'' was cancelled by NBC after the first season, Needham left the series. When
CBS picked up ''JAG'' from the second season onward, she was replaced by
Catherine Bell, playing then
Major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
Sarah MacKenzie. Her final, non-flashback appearance was in the final and rarely aired season 1 episode ''
Skeleton Crew''.
Austin also appeared via flashback in seasons 3 and 9.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Meg
JAG (TV series) characters
Television characters introduced in 1995
Fictional United States Navy personnel
Fictional American lawyers
Fictional United States Navy officers