Army gets Navy Goat. Uh, two goats this time.

Just before Thanksgiving, cadets from the United States Military Academy at West Point did something that the three-star general in charge of the school officially ordered them not to do: They stole a Naval Academy goat mascot.

The general said afterward that the prank went against West Point’s core values and that he was disappointed by the breach of trust. Properly chastised, the academy’s cadets had time to reflect on the matter over the holiday.

Then last weekend, cadets stole a goat again.

Two goats, actually.

The animals are the latest in the line of 37 different bucks, stretching back more than a century, that have served as Naval Academy mascots. All have been named Bill. And among a certain set of West Point cadets and alumni, stealing Bill from one of the Navy’s secret pasturing locations has become the ultimate mission impossible. Cadets have done it least 12 times.

After a Bungled Theft of Navy’s Mascot Draws Fire, Goatnappers Strike Again https://nyti.ms/3G7g7UU


The Army-Navy game is one of the great events in sports.