diff --git a/roles/openvpn/templates/iiab-support b/roles/openvpn/templates/iiab-support
index 037d08afb..91715e599 100644
--- a/roles/openvpn/templates/iiab-support
+++ b/roles/openvpn/templates/iiab-support
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # openvpn_handle is stored in 2 files on disk, one slightly stripped down (from
 # the other) due to Ansible.  So we emulate Ansible's behavior, when reading from
 # (and later writing to) disk, removing outer cruft as explained on Lines 28-30
-handle1=$(grep "^openvpn_handle:" /etc/iiab/local_vars.yml | sed "s/^openvpn_handle:\s*\(['\"]\)\(.*\)\1\s*$/\2/")
+handle1=$(grep "^openvpn_handle:" /etc/iiab/local_vars.yml | sed -e "s/^openvpn_handle://; s/^\s*//; s/\s*$//; s/^\(['\"]\)\(.*\)\1$/\2/")
 echo -e "\n/etc/iiab/local_vars.yml source/master copy: $handle1"
 if [ -f /etc/iiab/openvpn_handle ]; then
     handle2=$(cat /etc/iiab/openvpn_handle)
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ if [ "$ans" != "" ] || ( [ "$handle1" = "" ] && [ ! -v handle2 ] ); then
     # BEHAVIOR JUST LIKE ANSIBLE'S: create /etc/iiab/openvpn_handle from the
     # "^openvpn_handle:" line in /etc/iiab/local_vars.yml by (1) removing outer
     # spacing IF NEC, then (2) removing 1 pair of matching outer quotes IF NEC.
-    ans=$(echo $ans | sed "s/^\s*\(['\"]\)\(.*\)\1\s*$/\2/")
+    ans=$(echo $ans | sed -e "s/^\s*//; s/\s*$//; s/^\(['\"]\)\(.*\)\1$/\2/")
     echo $ans > /etc/iiab/openvpn_handle
     echo -e "\n\e[1mSAVED: openvpn_handle recorded into both above files.\e[0m\n"
 elif [ "$handle1" != "$handle2" ]; then    # Sloppily, but conveniently here,