I took my current job not long after retiring over five years ago. I was very impressed at the people that interviewed me--one was a prior Navy O-5 Medical bubba. I definitely worried that the good impression would be quickly replaced by the opposite. I was also very concerned that the GS horror stories that I'd heard over years would become evident with both colleagues and other senior leadership in the place I was at.
Neither turned out to be true. The great bosses eventually went away and I got new bosses. They were also equally fantastic. Zero micromanaging and lots of trust and empowerment. The commute sucked--going from NoVa to Bethesda during rush hour, and after a year, I looked at our TW policy, which said it was there to mitigate adverse conditions such as traffic. So, on a lark, I submitted to come in every day at 0630 (citing the policy), leave at 1400, and TW for an hour. Got approved right away. All the sudden, zero gridlock.
We are also not pushing to come back any time soon, but will eventually have to follow our lead agency's path once things begin to resolve. But our TW policy will almost assuredly be altered to allow much greater flexibility. While I've always fantasized about getting back into the DoD and TS/SCI fold, I thorughly enjoy the freedom of being able to do 80% of my 100% unclass job from home.