Careful - the characters might still be there waiting to ruin another stn cdr's career.
I was privvy in the mid- 60's to a discussion in a group at the annual BoB cockers at Gutersloh when the C in C remarked to the Stn Cdr that there were no real characters left in the RAF any more. The Stn Cdr remained really cool and agreed, for what the C in C didn't know yet was that the officer to his left had just taken a train from the stn sidings and driven it along the bundesbahn to Hanover. And none of us knew that the officer opposite was later to fly his Hunter between the spans of Tower Bridge prior to beating up MoD and dropping leaflets across Heathrow.
No characters indeed!