Primarily documents Ellen Steel's career in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) from 1949 to 1969 and changes in the army since the 1940s. Steel chiefly describes her basic training and her various duty stations. She talks about her parents' reactions when she joined the WAC; basic training in the late 1940s; skills learned at quartermaster school; orderly rooms; her desire to work overseas; social life, including sports and movies; segregation and integration in the military; visiting Normandy and Germany; living arrangements at the Supreme Headquarters of Allied Command in Europe (SHAPE) in France in the mid-1950s; working with African-American WACs; attending the University of Arkansas; working with a male reserve unit; duties of sergeant major of a training battalion; her duties at Fort Meyer; and her opinion of General Elizabeth Hoisington. " Steel also comments on changes in the army and women in the military. Topics include the WAC merging with the regular army; advantages of military service, including greater independence, discipline, confidence, and responsibility; her opinion of women in combat; and patriotism. " She also briefly talks about the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; her brother's death in 1953; and her enjoyment of defense work during World War II.