A swoosh of ginger and white dashes across campus, as the Aggie war hymn sounds from a speaker. Reveille X and Mascot Corporal and agricultural economics sophomore Theodore Neal speed around Texas A&M’s campus as cool air blows from the air conditioning.
Aggies can now see Reveille X traveling on campus like this with Neal, her handler, thanks to their custom-made golf cart. Neal has served as Reveille X’s handler since April and will continue to be her handler until April 2024, he said.
The Texas A&M Office of the President posted, “Interim President Welsh handed the keys to ‘Rev Force One’ over to the Commandant, Corps of Cadets, Texas A&M University yesterday,” to Facebook on Sept. 1.
The golf cart is decked out with everything he could have wanted, Neal said.
“It’s nicer than my truck,” Neal said. “It has AC, Bluetooth, it’s custom-fitted so they took out the front seat, the front bench, so you just have the driver’s seat and they put in a doggy bed.”
Neal uses the Bluetooth speakers to listen to music on his way to events, which he said is his favorite feature of the golf cart.
“She has her own dog bed up front, and the AC kind of blows directly on her,” Neal said. “The AC is just for her. It’s not for anybody else.”
The golf cart also comes with a rain guard that will help protect Reveille and her handler from the weather, Neal said.
The golf cart is equipped with storage compartments that are spacious enough for Reveille’s bed, this makes the golf cart the perfect vehicle for football game days, Neal said.
“It has a regular horn and then they installed a button, kind of, like, underneath, and you press it and it plays the Aggie war hymn,” Neal said.
The golf cart was also fitted with a custom maroon license plate that reads “REV FORCE 1.”
Assistant Commandant for Marketing & Communications Amy Thompson works with Reveille at the Corps Media Office. Thompson helped coordinate with executive director for the Office of the President Rebecca O’Neal, Class of 2011, to get the golf cart, she said.
“Those seats don’t exist anywhere else [with that] leatherwork, and it’s stitched with her logo on them,” Thompson said.
The golf cart has been very helpful, Neal said, especially if there’s a time crunch.
“Some days, she’ll have busy days, so maybe three or four events in a day, and if they’re back to back or there’s not a lot of time between them, it makes it very easy to have the golf cart,” Neal said. “It’s less stressful on the actual logistics of getting there.”
Reveille X and Neal still attend most of their on-campus events by walking and only drive when the distance is greater than a mile and a half, Neal said.
“If it’s over a mile and a half, we have to drive, whether that’s by vehicle, and the golf cart’s just easier, especially if it’s on campus,” Neal said. “It’s easier to get to all the places and buildings.”
While College Station was experiencing record heat this past summer, Neal said he often drove Reveille in the golf cart to keep her paws off the hot pavement and reduce the risk of her getting hurt.
“This is the first year that we’ve really been concerned about the heat during events,” Neal said.
During extreme heat, Neal said he would only walk with Reveille if their destination was a half mile or less away.
“I found out we were getting the golf cart probably a month after I was receiving or in the position, but the golf cart has been in the works long before I became handler,” Neal said.
The idea of getting a golf cart for Reveille first came to fruition when Former Mascot Corporal Anderson Dang had two back-to-back events, with the second one being at The Association of Former Students.
The Association of Former Students agreed to pick up Anderson and Reveille in a golf cart to take them to the event, Neal said. There, he said Interim President Mark A. Welsh III asked Dang if Reveille had her own golf cart. After learning she did not, he offered her one, Neal said.
