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The Golden Fleece

High-Risk Adventure at West Point

By (author) Tom Carhart
Format: Hardback
Publisher: Potomac Books Inc, Dulles, United States
Published: 31st Jan 2018
Dimensions: w 140mm h 215mm d 25mm
Weight: 430g
ISBN-10: 1612349102
ISBN-13: 9781612349107
Barcode No: 9781612349107
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Synopsis
In the fall of 1965, Army cadet Tom Carhart and five others at West Point Academy pulled off a feat of precision and ingenuity that made them famous: the theft of the Navy's Billy-Goat mascot from their rival academy, Annapolis, just before the biggest game of the year. With U.S. forces in Vietnam swollen to nearly 200,000 and American casualties steadily growing, it was an unnerving time to join the military. At West Point, the young men preparing to graduate the following June were well aware that they would be called upon to serve, and quite possibly die, in that far-off country where war raged. That November would be the last Army-Navy football game any of the six cadets would ever participate in, so they had to make it count. After an embarrassing theft of their mascot ten years earlier, the Navy went to extraordinary lengths to make sure it could never happen again. Formal agreements were made between the two superintendents, who subsequently threatened fire and brimstone to any of their charges who dared go near the other Academy. To reinforce those orders, during the week before The Big Game, the Navy placed their goat in an effectively impregnable lockup under 24/7 guard by U.S. Marines at an intimidating Naval Security Station--a modern day Golden Fleece. The Golden Fleece by Tom Carhart is the incredible true story, told by one of the participants, of how six West Point cadets in the Class of 1966 set out to steal that Golden Fleece, and how they succeeded against all odds. The Golden Fleece is a rollicking non-fiction military caper about a famous prank conducted by these cadets as their one last hurrah before shipping off to a war they might not come back from.

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"Carhart, a West Point graduate (1966), left the Army after several tours in Vietnam, and is now an attorney and the author of numerous books on men at war. In this rather amusing book, he reaches back to his academy days and one of the more notable pranks in its long rivalry with Annapolis; the kidnapping of the Navy's goat mascot on November 21, 1965, as planned and successfully executed by six cadets, including himself."-Strategy Page "West Point graduate (1966) Carhart . . . reaches back to his academy days and one of the more notable pranks in its long rivalry with Annapolis; the kidnapping of the Navy's goat mascot on November 21, 1965, by six cadets, including himself. Carhart gives us a very detailed account of the "mission", a risky undertaking punctuated by some funny moments, taking us through its genesis, planning and execution. . . . This amusing yet informative tale makes for good reading."-NYMAS Review "A high-spirited, poignant story of brotherhood, sacrifice, and eternal youth. Tom Carhart takes us to the lost world of West Point more than a half century ago, and brings it back to life."-Rick Atkinson, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of The Long Gray Line: The American Journey of West Point's Class of 1966
"This lively account of the caper by six West Point cadets to nab the U.S. Naval Academy's goat mascot before the Army-Navy football game in 1965 is infused with humor as well as drama. The book also offers acute insights into life at the U.S. Military Academy during the years that American forces were escalating their commitment to the Vietnam War."-James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of The War That Forged a Nation: Why the Civil War Still Matters
"A true, bittersweet account of boys learning to be officers at West Point. Their immediate future is the war in Vietnam; their recreation is to steal Navy's goat just before the Army-Navy game. Required reading for those who wish to wear the Army's gray."-Bruce Lee, coauthor of Pearl Harbor: Final Judgement "This is a fascinating firsthand portrait of an impressive group of men who attended West Point during a tragic period in our country's history."-Lucien N. Nedzi, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-Michigan) "The tension, risk, and reward, are almost tangible. The Golden Fleece also captures, and so reminds us all of, the very high character qualities of honor, intelligence, commitment, and raw courage that are so routinely displayed by the young men and women who graduate from our national service academies every year."-Duncan L. Hunter, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives (R-California)
"Think Catch-22 meets The West Point Story as cadets kidnap the Navy football mascot, a billy goat, by infiltrating a high-security area one night before the annual Army-Navy game. The problems overcome and the bittersweet results make for high drama."-Julian M. Olejniczak, author of To Be a Soldier: A Selective American Military History "Tom Carhart has given us another entertaining read that I had difficulty putting down and very much hated to see come to an end. . . . He captures a great deal about the cadet cultures at the various military academies-the rigor and discipline of day-to-day cadet life, the lifelong friendships that develop through the sharing of difficult demands few young people ever experience, the culture of 'Duty, Honor, Country' that undergirds the ethos of the profession of arms, and the humor that is also very much a part of the lives of young military academy cadets."-Gen. Ronald H. Griffith, U.S. Army (Ret.) and former vice chief of staff-Army