The Foreign Service Journal, January 2006

Department of State, I worked in the International Information Programs and Human Resources bureaus, with postings in Accra, Belgrade, Rio de Janeiro and La Paz, as well as assignments in Washington. After retirement, my husband and I focused primar- ily on building a beach house in Nags Head, N.C., as a second home. But we have also spent time with fami- ly, helped my mother move into an assisted living com- munity, watched my nephew graduate with honors from the University of Michigan and hosted various family members at our new home. Our nieces loved the pool! I took the Job Search Program in August and September 2004 prior to retirement, and found it very helpful as a tool to decompress and transition into this new phase of life. The section on resumé writing was very useful, forcing me to think through what I might like to do next. I’m not particularly interested in looking for a full-time job again, so found the speakers from various nonprofits and other volunteer organizations very inter- esting in planting some seeds for potential activities other than full-time work. When we started building our dream beach house, I found it brought out a new kind of creativity in space planning, color coordination and construction budget- ing that had not been called on in government work. As we tweaked the basic plan for the house to add more utility for very little additional square footage, I was delighted to concentrate totally on this project without having the demands of my former job. And the result has been even better than we had hoped for. Our builder entered our house in the Outer Banks Parade of Homes in October, and won two awards: one a Special Feature Award for “overall design and use of space,” which was a direct result of our changes to the basic plan, and the other, the prestigious “Judges’ Award for Excellence” for the best construction quality in our category (four bed- rooms, three-and-one-half baths — considered a “small” house in the area). All the time we took to find and then wait for the availability of this meticulous builder was well worth it. My advice, particularly to colleagues who are five or more years away from retirement, is to save, save, save your money, as much as possible. Contribute to the TSP to the maximum possible, and to other savings plans or accounts as well. Having the flexibility and peace of mind that come from having your retirement plan under control makes pretty much everything else possible, no matter what you want to do. Some people know for sure that they want to contin- ue working. But if there’s another project calling your name it is wonderful to have the freedom to concentrate on it without having new workplace demands on your time and attention. This is the second half of your adult life; perhaps it’s time to mentally stretch a bit and do something completely unrelated to the tasks of the last 25 or so years. I found it very refreshing and personally rewarding to be so creatively involved in the design and furnishing of our new beach house. Gloria S.N. Lloyd Nags Head, N.C. utu An Opportunity to Contribute to National Security I must admit that as I contemplated retirement, I imagined taking on part-time work to maintain my involvement with foreign affairs people and issues. However, my current position, which the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs helped me identify, has turned out to be professionally challenging, personally very satis- fying, and of some importance — a combination that has made continued full-time work more than palatable. I very much appreciate the opportunity to continue con- tributing to our national security. I work at the U.S. Special Operations Command headquarters in Tampa, Fla. My employer is a privately- owned company (Gemini Industries, Inc.) that has a mul- tifaceted contract with USSOCOM to provide a variety of services and expert personnel. My role is to serve as a liaison between the State Department and the DOD’s Center for Special Operations — an integrated intelli- gence, planning and operations entity — in a position that is separate from and in addition to that of the active- duty Foreign Service political adviser to the commander. My particular work focuses on counterterrorism strategic and operational planning. My primary contacts back at State are in the Counterterrorism Coordinator’s office and in the regional and political-military bureaus. As the lead combatant command for planning, synchro- nizing and, when directed, executing the U.S. military part of the global war on terrorism, USSOCOM is inter- ested in close coordination with its interagency partners F O C U S 64 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 6