Question: How do you explain what you did to civilians?

At every family gathering, someone asks "So what did you actually do in the military?"

And I never know how to answer. My job was technical and hard to explain. My experiences were... complicated. And I don't want to either bore people or share things they can't handle.

How do you handle this question?

1. Do you have a go-to simple explanation?
2. How do you decide what to share and what to keep private?
3. What do you do when people have unrealistic Hollywood expectations?
4. Any good responses for the awkward follow-up questions?

I'd love to hear how others navigate this. It comes up more than I expected.