When a cadet at West Point has done (wrong) or not done something (that was to be done), the required response is "No excuse sir" (starting in 1976, it became "no excuse sir/ma'am"). There may be "reasons" but there are no "excuses".

One might not have known about something (ignorance) or chose to ignore something known. There could be "reasons" that could not be anticipated. It does not matter. There is "no excuse".

Sometimes one must "excuse" oneself before the action happens.
One little girl, almost 3-1/2 years old, in order to get to something, exclaimed, "Excuse me! I need to get in the way!".

[thumb, reading]

A book is like a list. Most schools have what is known as a "Dean's List" for the "best" students. West Point is a traditional engineering school and the top of the class are called the engineers.
At West Point, those cadets near the bottom of the class, the "goats", often referred to being on the "Dean's Other List". It appears that, since the Naval Academy midshipman are known as "goats", the idea was that the West Point cadets at the bottom of the class were on par with any of the Naval Academy midshipman.

The reference to "goat" does not appear to be related to the parable of the sheep and goats.

In 1976, at Airborne school at Fort Benning, GA, there were West Point cadets and Air Force Academy cadets in the same group. There were 30 foot poles around a training field. Each had a letter that together spelled "AIRBORNE".

One night, some Air Force cadets climbed the poles and changed some letters. Later that night some West Point cadets climbed a pole and changed one letter. It was very hot and humid those weeks. It was not clear how those cadets had the energy to do this at night.