Thanks for all the input everyone.

Chaos, that sounds like a great gear check system you have in place. Hopefully I can get that organized. One question though (and I'm sure I'm gonna kick myself when I find out), what is "HT?" Also I would agree that the recent extreme heat wave has had a possible effect on the batteries ... except ... the bag has been in the house since we returned from vacation over father's day weekend. That said, before that time it was riding in my truck or in DW's van, driven in to work, left to sit in the sun all day, and return home where it sat further in the sun and through the cool-down of night temps.

Izzy, with what you said about the contraction/expansion thing, and what arney mentioned in his post, I think I will likely store the batteries OUTSIDE the flashlight and in a zip-loc bag or other container from now on. And yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm not checking gear often enough, but I plan to change that.

Powerring, I like the idea of writing the date on the side of the battery. I'm sure temp and humidity has had an impact as I am here in about the same neck of the woods as you are, though like I said above the light/bag has been in the house since father's day weekend so the recent extreme heat has been a non-factor.

Arney, putting the light into immediate action is not an issue, so I'll start storing the batteries outside the light as you suggested. I'm not sure how long those batteries were in the light. It's not that they have been in there all that long, I'm just very forgetful, which is why I am going to step up on my gear checking and work harder at making that a better habit.

Oh, and I did get the old batteries out, but the leakage damaged the screw on butt cap and the light, thus far, is inoperable (looks like I'll be needing a new light, seems like for me lessons have to be learned the hard way).

So, I'll be getting some lithium batteries, dating them, storing them outside the light in a separate bag or maybe one of those battery caddy's, checking my gear more frequently, and rotating out old stock for newer stock (my inner cheapskate is crying out and my inner prepper just smacked him upside the head). Thanks again for all the input. And any further insight or suggestions are welcomed.