Possession is nine tenths of the law

Unfortunately for me, the saying in the title of this post is accurate inasmuch as possession only goes 90% of the way. That leaves 10% available for people to snatch things right out of your hands. Or your office. You may remember my mentioning that there was a very large TV set in my office (although I admit I have only watched half of one movie on it in the 2 1/2 months I've had it). As my current battalion prepares to leave Iraq and return to Germany, they're tidying up the property books to make sure everything is accurately accounted for. And, in fact, I signed a "hand receipt" yesterday taking custody of that really nice TV, so it could be tracked when they left it behind. Alas! This morning I arrived to work and my TV was gone! Worse, I had just signed for it, so it was "mine" and I was financially responsible! Fortunately, I knew who had it (A master sergeant had told me a few days ago that he was going to take it, but thought maybe he had changed his mind!) and apparently he offered it to somewhere else where soldiers can actually make good use of it. And to prove that he's actually that big hearted, he gave away his own flat screen TV too. Now we are both staring at empty walls. At least I still have my own TV in my hooch. And AFN, too, so it's actually useful.