The Golden Fleece: High-Risk Adventure at West Point

In the fall of 1965 West Point cadet Tom Carhart and five of his classmates from the U.S. Military Academy pulled off a feat of extraordinary ingenuity, precision, and raw guts: the theft of the billy goat mascot from their rival, the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, just before the biggest football game of the year.

The U.S. forces in Vietnam were then at two hundred thousand and growing, with casualties spiking, and the men in West Point’s class of 1966 were well aware that they would serve, and quite possibly die, in that far-off war. But West Point’s motto, “Duty, Honor, Country,” affirms that its graduates will always obey the decisions of our elected government, and the men of ’66 were dutiful: of the 579 who graduated, 30 died in Vietnam and roughly five times that number were wounded. Since this would be the men’s last Army-Navy football game as cadets, they wanted to go out with a bang, not a whimper.

Carhart tells the incredible true story of how, in stealing that Navy goat, the cadets unknowingly reenacted the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece from Greek mythology. The caper is interwoven with an insider’s narrative about the private lives of six West Point cadets in the early 1960s, who, against all odds, hurled their last hurrah of triumph to America before flying off to fight its wretched war in Vietnam.

For more information about The Golden Fleece visit carhartthegoldenfleece.com.
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The Golden Fleece: High-Risk Adventure at West Point

In the fall of 1965 West Point cadet Tom Carhart and five of his classmates from the U.S. Military Academy pulled off a feat of extraordinary ingenuity, precision, and raw guts: the theft of the billy goat mascot from their rival, the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, just before the biggest football game of the year.

The U.S. forces in Vietnam were then at two hundred thousand and growing, with casualties spiking, and the men in West Point’s class of 1966 were well aware that they would serve, and quite possibly die, in that far-off war. But West Point’s motto, “Duty, Honor, Country,” affirms that its graduates will always obey the decisions of our elected government, and the men of ’66 were dutiful: of the 579 who graduated, 30 died in Vietnam and roughly five times that number were wounded. Since this would be the men’s last Army-Navy football game as cadets, they wanted to go out with a bang, not a whimper.

Carhart tells the incredible true story of how, in stealing that Navy goat, the cadets unknowingly reenacted the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece from Greek mythology. The caper is interwoven with an insider’s narrative about the private lives of six West Point cadets in the early 1960s, who, against all odds, hurled their last hurrah of triumph to America before flying off to fight its wretched war in Vietnam.

For more information about The Golden Fleece visit carhartthegoldenfleece.com.
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The Golden Fleece: High-Risk Adventure at West Point

The Golden Fleece: High-Risk Adventure at West Point

The Golden Fleece: High-Risk Adventure at West Point

The Golden Fleece: High-Risk Adventure at West Point

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$36.95 
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Overview


In the fall of 1965 West Point cadet Tom Carhart and five of his classmates from the U.S. Military Academy pulled off a feat of extraordinary ingenuity, precision, and raw guts: the theft of the billy goat mascot from their rival, the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, just before the biggest football game of the year.

The U.S. forces in Vietnam were then at two hundred thousand and growing, with casualties spiking, and the men in West Point’s class of 1966 were well aware that they would serve, and quite possibly die, in that far-off war. But West Point’s motto, “Duty, Honor, Country,” affirms that its graduates will always obey the decisions of our elected government, and the men of ’66 were dutiful: of the 579 who graduated, 30 died in Vietnam and roughly five times that number were wounded. Since this would be the men’s last Army-Navy football game as cadets, they wanted to go out with a bang, not a whimper.

Carhart tells the incredible true story of how, in stealing that Navy goat, the cadets unknowingly reenacted the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece from Greek mythology. The caper is interwoven with an insider’s narrative about the private lives of six West Point cadets in the early 1960s, who, against all odds, hurled their last hurrah of triumph to America before flying off to fight its wretched war in Vietnam.

For more information about The Golden Fleece visit carhartthegoldenfleece.com.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781612349107
Publisher: Potomac Books
Publication date: 09/01/2017
Pages: 224
Product dimensions: 5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Tom Carhart is a West Point graduate, an infantry combat veteran, an academic historian, and the author of several military history books. He has written fifty-odd articles, op-ed pieces, and book reviews for national newspapers over the last twenty years, and has appeared on many TV news shows, including 60 Minutes.

An award-winning audio engineer for over forty years, Tom Perkins has expanded his skills to narrating and has more than sixty titles to his credit. He learned by working with the world's best voice talent during his career, and he continues to engineer a variety of projects.

Table of Contents


1. SPNSS, 0010 hours, 21 November 1965    
2. High Aspirations    
3. Beast    
4. Plebes at Last    
5. Holiday Cheer    
6. Christmas Dinner    
7. World Politics    
8. SPNSS, 0025 Hours, 21 November 1965    
9. Buckner    
10. Cold Steel    
11. Army Field Training    
12. Yearlings    
13. Goethe    
14. SPNSS, 0030 hours, 21 November 1965    
15. Cow Year    
16. Firsty Year    
17. The Adventure Begins    
18. Recon Run    
19. Decision Time    
20. In Flight       
21. Hallelujah!    
22. Caravan Crisis    
23. Laying Low    
24. Inside Connections    
25. Time to Deliver    
26. Betrayal    
27. Falling on Our Swords    
28. The Shadow of the Guillotine    
29. The Commandant of Cadets    
30. Vietnam Veterans Memorial    
31. The Engineer    
32. Pension Asset Management    
33. Saving Apple’s Cookies    
34. Taking Baghdad      
35. Rocket Man    
 
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