The Navy Goat Story
by Bill Sieg
You may remember that during our Doolie year, members of the Class of 61 stole the Navy goat and brought it to Colorado. They left the goat at a local farm and brought into the Cadet area a nanny goat.
The principal perpetrators of this theft were Brice Jones and Monte Moorberg, 4th Sq. Jones and Moorberg also roomed together next to Jim Erickson and me. By opening our overhead storage door, Jim and I had a ringside seat to the discussions (arguments?) that went on over the goat.
One night well after taps came a loud knock at our door “Sieg, Erickson, get out here” Dressed in bathrobes and shower shoes we went outside to find a Dempsy Dumpster parked across from our room. The goat was inside. Jones and Moorberg wanted us to get the goat out of the dumpster. Now the goat had been in the Dumpster for some time, so the floor was covered in – well, you get the idea. So in we went. My first thought was that this was the ugliest animal I had ever seen and if it was my mascot, I’d resign!
I grabbed the front legs and Jim had the back. We tried to lift the goat out of the dumpster. I guess the goat didn’t speak English because it DID NOT want to get out of the dumpster. It bucked and kicked for all its might. And since we had to lift it over our heads to clear the dumpster, the goat won. Finally the firsties tipped the dumpster almost onto its side and slide the goat out.
About that time the Army rifle team was at the Academy for a match and the firsties made very sure they knew the Navy’s (surrogate) goat was on campus. The idea was for the Army to steal the goat and give it back to the Navy. Can you imagine the look on the Middies faces when they saw the nanny goat? Unfortunately it didn’t happen. The Army did indeed steal the goat and had it on an Air Force aircraft (C-119 I think) to take it back to West Point when the loadmaster figured out what was happening AND STOLE THE GOAT BACK!
Things came to a head when the Commandant of Annapolis demanded the goat back. The discussion that night in Jones’ & Moorberg’s room went on for hours. Finally they relented. Soon after, and you might remember this, they paraded the real goat at a noon meal formation and returned it.
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