1992 The Order of the Mule, Operation Missing Mascot.

 

1992 The Order of the Mule, Operation Missing Mascot. 

Seventeen Midshipmen sought revenge and stole Army's Mules becoming instant folk Heroes of the United States Naval Academy. Go Navy...Beat Army!

Army won the 1990 Army/Navy game, and they had every reason to believe they would do so again in 1991. Navy had one of the worse seasons ever and entered the big game with a record of 0 wins and 10 losses. But Navy had a secret weapon.

Two days before the game, on December 5, 1991, 17 Naval Academy Midshipman, two advisors and a Maryland farmer clandestinely invaded the plain at West Point, home to the Military Academy cadets, and kidnapped their beloved mascots, four 1,000 pound mules...check comment for full details

 The captured mules were revealed at the pep rally at the Naval Academy to the shock and delight of every Midshipmen and Alumni in attendance. The next day in the annual football game, Navy pummeled Army 24 to 3 and the revenge was complete.

Why was revenge necessary?  Because in the previous year, West Point cadets stole the Naval Academy’s mascot Bill the Goat XXVII.  Though the goat was not the official Academy mascot at the time.  He was sick and was eventually put to sleep following his return.  The West Point cadets had cut several padlocks to kidnap Bill the Goat from the Naval Academy Dairy Farm, an actual farm the Navy had started in 1911 to supply milk, butter and ice cream to the Naval Academy Mess Hall, located 20 miles off campus making it an easy target. The 100 pound Bill the Goat was driven off in a pickup truck.  This dastardly deed had to be “revenged.” 

In addition in the early 1940’s Mr. Weir “Tennessee” Denton was a farmer and on night duty at the Naval Academy Dairy Farm when West Point cadets opened the gates allowing the dairy cows to roam the streets.  While Tennessee and a few Marines gathered up the cows, the cadets kidnapped Bill the Goat.  Tennessee never forgot that night and wanted an opportunity to avenge Army.  Denton a retired mule farmer made the perfect advisor and trainer on mule handling.

Complicating the revenge at West Point was that the mules “Spartacus, Trooper, Ranger and Traveler” which were located in a pen on a busy section of the West Point campus, a mule weighs approximately 1000 pounds, and transport had to be in a large horse trailer.  Making it impossible to hide.

The team of midshipmen and advisors gathered intelligence over the summer and fall of 1991. Over Labor Day weekend, one team conducted a scouting expedition where they entered West Point disguised as tourist and fed mules sugar cubes while taking photos and noting nearby security.  During the fall, Tennessee trained the midshipmen on mule handling.  Their plan was to take Army’s mules at the veterinary clinic during the mules’ feeding time at 1530.

The plan was executed on November 29, 1991 unfortunately some of the intelligence was wrong in that Army changed the feeding time. The dejected group returned to Annapolis empty handed.

Undeterred a second attempt was mustered for December 5, 1991.  Since this was a school day only upper classmen could get off classes and maintain plan security.  Arriving the night before and staying in a motel, the team reviewed each detail of the plan including disguises, forced entry, disarming security systems, physical restraint methods, communication, mule handling and escape routes.

At 0915, the convoy rolled onto campus through and unguarded back gate.  They arrived at the veterinary clinic at 0919, where the assault and mule teams exited the vehicles while trying to look like relaxed enlisted soldiers. Midshipman Middleton and assault team Alpha headed for the clinic’s front door while Midshipman Callahan and assault team Bravo went to the barn door and the mule team went for the mule pen at the back of the compound. 

With No MPs in sight, it was a quiet Thursday morning at the West Point Stables as the normal daily routine was about to be suddenly interrupted. An Army sergeant let Midshipman Middleton in through the front door, where he became a “true hero” by convincing the sergeant that he was there with a few men to load mule feed for the Army game and that a second group would come in from the barn side. Bravo team arrived, but the presence of about 14 unscheduled visitors making small talk about feed delivery could not go unnoticed. A First Sergeant realized what was happening and yelled “Call the MPs!” but it was already too late the team jumped into action restraining the occupants as prisoners; phone lines disconnected; security alarms disarmed; locks were cut and a “Sorry We’re Closed” sign was put over the door. Like clockwork, prisoners were interviewed for knowledge of alarms and MP patrols and, at the same time, the mules were being moved into the barn from the outside pen.

By 0928, the building was secure and the mules were waiting at the front barn door, content with a supply of sweet, molasses-based feed. All looked calm and undisturbed from the outside and the prisoners were under control. The mule transport rolled up at 0930 and the four mules were loaded in under a minute while civilians at a financial center across the street smoked and watched. By 0932, the trailer pulled away and went out the gate. Meanwhile the remaining team members kept an eye on the prisoners: turns out there were two Army officers, two enlisted soldiers and two civilians working in the downstairs portion of the building the entire time. At one point a midshipman disguised as an Army MP told the office workers that “the men upstairs were Military Security and were doing a security check because “You know, Navy is gonna try to take the mules.” To which a confident reply from the office was “They’ll never do it.” 

At another point, two cadets asked a midshipman disguised as an MP at the front door where the mules were going, to which the midshipman replied, “A rabies virus vial has been broken. The mules are being evacuated.”

By 0940 the remaining team members were beginning to leave the compound, but the prisoners were becoming more difficult to control. Only two midshipmen and an advisor were left when, at 0948, one of the six downstairs office workers came upstairs, found the prisoners and realized what was going on. The three remaining infiltrators sprinted out to the advisor’s car while an enlisted soldier went to his own car to try to stop them.

The last Navy vehicle backed out of the parking lot to find himself blocked by the soldier. The Navy driver threw his vehicle in gear and sped up the hill to another exit. The soldier leaped in his car and then began a high-speed chase for the gate.

The soldier took a different route to try to block the fleeing Navy vehicle, but the advisor floored his vehicle, held down the horn and swerved around the soldier’s vehicle while the soldier himself drove out of the Navy vehicle’s path to keep from being hit. It was 0953 when the last intruders left the gate. Time on base was 33 minutes, and the mules had been captured, but the soldiers at the gate had recorded the last car’s license plate number and federal and state authorities had been notified. On top of that, West Point’s Huey Cobra helicopters had also been scrambled to search for the intruders. They started searching to the South.

But the midshipmen were prepared: instead of driving immediately south onto roads manned with federal and state police who were on the lookout, the mule trailer drove north to Albany, then west and south to Scranton, Pennsylvania before finally arriving in Anne Arundel County. The plan was to get the mules to the Naval Academy campus in time for the pep rally at 1930, but the convoy arrived at the Academy gate at 1915 only to find federal authorities waiting for them.

They were removed from their vehicles and spread-eagled on the baseball backstop.

Luckily, the academy’s command duty officer came to the rescue she said “look, you guys are blocking traffic, let’s take this on to the academy grounds and we’ll figure it out there,” Convincing the authorities to take the midshipmen into the academy, they took the culprits off the backstop and moved inside the gate.

Once on the academy grounds the command duty officer realizing negotiation would not work told the federal authorities, “get the hell out of here, you have no jurisdiction.” And that’s how the mules ended up at the pep rally.