Attaching disconnects to a carbed keg

[guldalian]

I will be using a keg for the 1st time this weekend. It will be in a keg cooler, using a faucet straight off of the disconnect and a co2 charger.
It has been naturally carbonated in the keg, (2.2 vol) and I am wondering, do I have to release all the pressure in the head space in order to connect the disconnects? Will that remove too much co2 from the beer? Should I do liquid or gas 1st?
Here are some things I don't want to happen:
The keg exploding in my face
The beer being flat
The beer shooting uncontrollably out of the keg while I'm hooking it up.

Help please!

 

[day_trippr]

The keg posts have poppets that won't open until you have the disconnects very nearly latched down, so you're not going to get a face full of beer (or CO2) while rigging your keg for dispense.

Either order is fine, doesn't matter.
And as long as you smoothly latch the disconnect to the post you're not going to lose beer or CO2, either.
Finally, as the head space would be in equilibrium with the carbonation level of the beer there's no good reason to relieve the head space at any point...

Cheers!