I got to "the base that time forgot" in Feb '02. I was the Ops Officer during my tour there. The TSgt who took off on an ATV in Sep '01 was just before I got there. However, I was on the team that recovered him in Jun '02. After significant disinfecting, I secured his .357 revolver and removed 5 live rounds and 1 spent casing.
Hope my guys didn't give you too much trouble at the gate. The gate was a genuine pain in the fourth point of contact for us, too. I had a total of about 3 months when half of my manpower wasn't deployed. Most of the visiting COPE THUNDER aircrews used the term "local color" to refer to The Refinery in North Pole or Fantasyland out on the Rich. There just wasn't much up there. Nothing like ABC down in Anchorage. No real hobby shops up there, either. I got to shopping over the internet on a regular basis.
As for the desert BDU's, I'll wear 'em as long as I don't have to wear the blue tiger stripes they've cooked up.