Bright, blunt talk about the quandaries that face an army wife, which preserves good equilibrium despite the latitude which individual conditions impose. Money scarce -- and how to manage; homekeeping, if possible; clothes, personal appearance, eating alone; your job -- whether paid or volunteer; your children; your friends and the wolves in friends' clothing; leaves, letters, insignia, etc. Comforting commonsense on domestic and emotional displacement. Personal experience -- gay but not too heroic.