Mary Kate Bonds primarily tells of coming of age during the Great Depression and of her service in the WAVES during World War Two and in the U.S. Navy until 1971. Bonds discusses her childhood in Chickamauga, Georgia, near the Civil War battlefield; her mother's feminist attitudes; the Great Depression; senator Gordan Lee; and joining the navy in 1942. Topics from Bonds' service in the WAVES during World War II include her experiences in one of the early classes of officers; as cadre when the training center at Hunter College was opened; and working with aviators at Corpus Christi, Texas. " Bonds describes how she rejoined the regular navy in 1948 and discusses many of her subsequent assignments. Those include working with Esther Williams at Naval Station Great Lakes and in Hollywood, her time at United States European Command in Paris, and her duties in the Bureau of Naval Personnel, Office of the Secretary of the Navy, and Chief of Naval Operations office in Washington, D.C. Other subjects include the rise and fall of troop morale during her three-decade career; her opinion of the progress of women and civil rights; patriotism; her opinions of several presidents; the role of education in her life; and the evolution of women in the military during her career.