A bit of reflection.

On the eve of our Executive Director's retirement, it seems appropriate to reflect on the right time and the right reasons to end a career since it is a decision so many of us have to face but rarely do anything about. A perfect career can be forever marred if it becomes never-ending. The United States military does it best. It has established patterns for intake, career growth, and retirement, each varied to meet individual needs and levels of seniority, but each designed to keep the system and the organization constantly rejuvenated with new blood and new ideas as people move through them. Retirement from the military is as honored and dignified as any momentous occasion, and people leave with a good feeling, still young enough to put their creative energies to good use in second and even third venues.

It is much less clear in the civilian sector, where a person's identity and self-worth are often equated with what one does and where one is in the GS/SES pecking order. Retirement is seen not as a transition, but as an ending--a giving up, a quick luncheon, then sitting on a porch rocker, whittling on a stick, and waiting for the reaper. None of this is further from the truth.

"Retirement" at an early age is the greatest gift the government can bestow on its civilian careerists. In general we are healthier now and are much more active than our predecessors for a lot longer. As a sixty-something retiree, I still compete in the Army Ten Miler each October; I hike, jog, and work outdoors with the vigor and zest not normally associated with a geriatric lifestyle. I travel, play with the grandkids, take long motorcycle trips, and the like.

And, yes, I do work--but not all the time. I stay connected to old friends and colleagues through part-timing at ASMC Headquarters, and I donate my time to the ASMC Mount Vernon Chapter. Donald Trump once said, "Love what you do and do what you love!" And I do just that.

During ASMC chapter visits, I talk to many people. I always invite the senior people (as I put it, those whose hair color is getting like mine) to lunch, and I tell them what the pre-retirement seminars usually don't. More often than not, the folks who are still working years beyond their retirement eligibility just don't have many other interests. They are having too much "fun" at the job.

Well, I've body-surfed in Hawaii, worked a cattle ranch in Utah, shopped on the Ginza in Tokyo, motorcycled in Wales, sipped cool drinks on a Mexican veranda, watched whales off the Big Sur coast, walked the Tower of London, and gloried in a sunset on the Gulf of Siam--and guess what? Working Department of Defense budget issues never even came close in the fun category.

No one would think of selling a $300,000 house for $100,000. Yet being retirement-eligible means that one does that every day. In effect, a retirement-eligible person is the greatest manpower bargain the government can buy because, despite many years of experience, he or she actually is being paid only about 30 cents on the dollar.

And of course, time is passing. If you retire at 65 instead of 55, you lose 10 years to expand your horizons beyond the confines of the job you're so comfortable in. And the young people--those whom you have mentored and who are patiently waiting in the ranks for you to finally leave? Believe me, they are ready, willing, and able to step into your shoes and will be so grateful for the opportunity to do so. And they'll do just fine. Don't worry. The government will be in good hands.

If you find this piece a bit biased, I apologize. We all need to do what makes us happy in life, and certainly I don't pretend to have many answers. I ask only that you examine the various alternatives. I had a great 34-year career and worked at all levels in our system, starting as an intern. But one day I looked around and knew it was time. As the fellow who e-mailed me after one conference said, "A life is a terrible thing to waste--I'm out of here!"

I am very lucky having had the opportunity to teach, to write, and to stay in contact with the younger people now in the system. I delight in meeting interns and telling them of the many great rewards awaiting them in their own careers. But I'm also very glad I had the good sense to retire when I did. I have learned much since my retirement and have had some great role models such as Jim McCall, who will be sorely missed, but who had the superb sense of timing to build the ASMC from what it was 14 years ago to the excellent organization that it is today--and to move on.