Making Choices
Where to settle—or not to settle at all—is one of the biggest family decisions you’ll make. This month, MOAA provides tips and recommendations for your consideration.
By Col. Warren S. Lacy, USA-Ret.

Where do you think would be the best place to live? OK, not a fair question. The answer will depend on your life stage. If you’re about to retire from military service and begin a second career, then your choice of home site likely will be based on factors such as availability of jobs for you and your spouse, quality of schools for the kids, and variety of entertainment and social offerings for an active family.

On the other hand, if you’re an empty nester about to transition to a retirement lifestyle, you might want to consider factors such as cost of living, climate, health care, and leisure activities (read: “golf”).

So why would we ask such an unanswerable question? Well, if for no other reason, to begin a discussion. To share ideas. To provide information to help you make your own, tough decisions.

To kick off the debate, we offer the story “Top Picks” (page 46). We asked author Nancy Opiela to consult a variety of lists and surveys and come up with locations rated “tops” in a number of useful — and sometimes off-the-wall — categories. Yes, we know the results might not be scientific or clinically proven. And I know many of you are going to come back at us saying, “How can you be so stupid? Why didn’t you include ... in the list of ... ?” But we’re willing to take the heat in order to spur your feedback.

We challenge you to join the discussion and let us know where you think would be the best place to live — for whatever reason. You can post your thoughts and opinions online at
www.moaa.org/discussion, send an e-mail to editor@moaa.org, or contact us the traditional way through postal mail. We’ll peruse reader feedback and post a selection of your recommendations in a future issue.

If you find you just can’t decide where to live, then why not put your home on wheels and go wherever the roads and your whims may lead you? Many military retirees are opting for the recreational vehicle lifestyle these days. Meet a few of these RVers and find out more about their lifestyles in our story “On the Road Again” (page 56).

I’ll close by asking one last question: Where were you Sept. 11, 2001? On the fifth anniversary of the haunting tragedies of Sept. 11, we plan to run a story capturing members’ recollections of where they were on that date and what their initial thoughts or reactions were. Please send your comments to editor@moaa.org or to our postal address.