The unimaginable, true story of a woman’s quest to escape poverty and serve in the Royal Navy.

This shocking account exposes first-hand, the author’s personal journey from poverty in Liverpool, during the Thatcher era, and the wider picture as to why many working-class people turn to the Armed Forces for a career as a result. It exposes the shame and fear that gay service personnel had to endure, and the ensuing interrogations, during the years of the ban on LGBT+ people serving in HM Forces.

For the first time ever, the author exposes the after-effects and ongoing distress caused by the interrogations and dismissals faced by these veterans, the resulting homelessness, lack of career and forced outing to family, and the incredible passage of time that has resulted in tensions of loyalty to King, flag, and country, by those service men and women that the nation so cruelly, turned against.

Maz’s story is both tragic and humorous, angry, and humble, and is a reminder to us all that whilst laws change, lived experiences don’t. She explores the ongoing effects of the ban, how it feels to now be amongst a class of veterans shunned by the military community for decades, only to invited back to the military family, during a period when the UK government launched an independent review into those experiences. Her account shatters the myth that past discrimination is where it belongs, and that better times are ahead for those that stepped up to make the ultimate sacrifice.