Therese Strohmer tells of her early life, six years of service in United States Air Force, and civilian career. Strohmer primarily discusses her early life, service as Russian cryptologic linguist, time spent at the National Security Agency, and civilian career path. She details her lingual training, and the difficulties of being a closeted lesbian in the armed services of the 1980s. Strohmer also tells of her time as an inter-service athlete in Germany during the cold war, her reasons for joining the military, feelings towards the intelligence community, and how she came to be involved with the Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project.