"How do rumors get started, they're started by the jealous people and
They get mad seein' somethin' they had and somebody else is holdin'..." - The Timex Social Club, 'Rumors' (1986)
Call it what you want - the 'coconut wireless', 'RUMINT' (RUMor INTtelligence), 'latrine-o-grams', 'scuttlebutt', etc. etc. and so forth - rumors are a way of life here on Kwajalein. With the exception of classified information (which carries stiff penalties for unauthorized disclosure) there are very few personal secrets on this rock. From predictions of future doom-and-gloom in Fiscal Year 2012 to the latest marital indiscretions of certain couples on the island, a thriving rumor mill exists here. Even the official fishwrapper - ahem, the Kwajalein Hourglass - carries a rumor control article almost weekly either confiming or denying the latest rumor circulating on island.
I could fill a blog with all the rumors I've heard, from the upcoming budget cuts and almost inevitable layoffs to the long-delayed DSL internet project for the residents. Like most people here. I tend to be cynical about them firmly believing in the adage 'I'll believe when I actually see it happen!' Some have even deliberately spread false rumors in order to gauge the RUMINT capabilities of the island, which are formidable.
Whatever you've done, good or bad is fodder for the rumor mill. Didja get shit-faced at the Vets' Hall and/or the Snake Pit, waking up in the gutter with a hangover of titanic proportions? (You're lucky Kwaj Five-O didn't bag you for public intoxication.) Be very friendly with a single girl or guy on this island and people will begin assuming you're getting laid on a regular basis. (For those of us who don't get it on a regular basis, we're not missing much.)
Just for curiosity's sake I wouldn't mind being the proverbial fly on the wall overhearing what kind of rumors are spread about me. (Personally, I don't give a rat's ass, but forearmed is forewarned.)
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