From the White House to the Courthouse

How many law students can casually drop this into a conversation: "I remember the first time I met the president and had a chance to talk with him." That's the president of the United States we're talking about. Terry Nealy, a student at the University of Florida College of Law, remembers exactly where in the White House he was standing when he met President Clinton.

Nealy is completing his first year of law school after 11 years of service in the U.S. Air Force, where he lived and worked in places as diverse as South Dakota, Africa, Korea and Croatia. Nealy hopes to pursue a career in international law when he graduates from law school.

Nealy grew up in Tampa, Florida, and graduated from the University of South Florida with a degree in international studies. He joined the Air Force and was assigned as an executive officer (which in the civilian world is roughly equivalent to an administrative assistant) for a B-1 bomber squadron at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. He didn't plan on having an 11-year military career, but, he says, "I kept getting good jobs, so I kept staying."

Nealy left South Dakota for South Korea, where he served as an emergency action officer, a position he likens to a civilian 911 dispatcher. "It was my job to ensure the right thing was being done to get the right response for whatever emergency was happening," he says.

After Korea, it was back to the United States-this time to Andrews Air Force Base outside of Washington, D.C., a posting that had its own pressures. One of the crucial duties at Andrews is the maintenance of Air Force One and Air Force Two, the president's and vice president's planes. When the president of the United States is ready to leave for a trip, he doesn't expect to have to sit at the gate for an hour and a half while a mechanic peers under the hood.

From Andrews, Nealy moved to the White House, where he wore a coat and tie rather than a uniform. Most White House workers, from drivers to valets to guards, are military officers. Nealy served as an emergency actions procedures officer in the president's Emergency Operations Center, which means, among other things, that he can't tell us exactly what his duties were-that's classified information. He can say, however, that the Emergency Operations Center manages any crisis that requires military resources.

Nealy will confide that he enjoys reading books by Tom Clancy and other authors describing the Emergency Operations Center. He also enjoyed the movie "The American President" which he describes as "just perfect, so realistic" as far as life in the White House goes. Nealy saw the movie three times. "They got most of it right," he reports.

Nealy left his White House assignment to pursue his interest in international law. He accepted an assignment in Zagreb, Croatia, as the Air Force's liaison to the Croatian Ministry of Defense. Living in Croatia gave Nealy a great respect for Croatians, whom he describes as "a cordial, proud people." It also gave him a renewed sense of patriotism and a strong conviction in the importance of maintaining U.S. military strength. "We don't live in a perfect world where everybody is a peace-loving person," he says. "Having seen what [Croatians] had to go through to win their freedom, it left an indelible impression."

Nealy also had assignments in East Africa supporting the Operation Provide Relief/Restore Hope humanitarian mission to Somalia, and at Fort George Meade in Maryland, where he commanded a training squadron detachment.

Nealy says it was tough to leave the Air Force for law school because "the military gave me opportunities I never dreamed of from my neighborhood. But I'm happy with the decision I made." After he earns his law degree, Nealy expects to take the Foreign Service exam, and hopes one day to work in the U.S. State Department.

And how does law school compare to a military career? Nealy says law school is a lot of work, but he says he feels like he's on vacation compared to when he was in the military. "If I fail in law school, I get a 'D,'" he says. "I can make it up next semester. In the military, people depend on you. If you fail them, it is catastrophic."
Lee Farbman