Sex: What can happen when a bisexual sneaks onboard for six months at sea? What kind of sexual tensions and frustrations can evolve -- not only between potential lovers but between gays and “straight arrows” missing affection from wives, children and lovers? This is the only present tense report on the subject, revealing a world of sexual yearning and promiscuity lurking just beneath the policy, from the man who inspired the catch-phrase -- “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (see Author). Military Secret confronts society’s fears of gays in the military, yet tenders an emotional barometer for standards of conduct. For readers who seek the truth about sexual angst in the military, this book is a treasure map.

Drugs: LSD is a sailor’s drug of choice. The US Navy can’t test LSD usage without a spinal tap -- which they won’t do because an accident would lead to Congressional inquiries. They maintain aggressive surveillance. Yet Graham -- a former undercover DEA agent (1972-3) -- reveals how drug deals get made under the nose of Shore Patrol & San Diego police. LSD dealer Louie (he was also a Vietnam veteran and heroin addict) slept weekends on Graham’s couch, to come in from the cold. Readers who care about homeless war veterans self-medicating to ease the pain, and who question the integrity of drug tests in the military, will find this revealing exposé too infuriating to take sitting down.

Cigarettes: Months before this biography began, the Pentagon implemented a program to wean sailors off cigarettes, with a bold new policy known as “The Smoke Free Navy.” As USS Ranger steamed to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Desert Shield, with hostilities imminent, the Navy banned smoking in every compartment shared between smoking and non-smoking co-workers. The Personnel department of Wolfpack became a haven for this non-smoking author’s chain-smoking chain of command. Readers who have had enough of secondhand, passive inhalation from generations of bullying, arrogant smokers will stand up and cheer at the valiant efforts of this petty officer on behalf of himself and his fellow men.