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college. insisted. 172 REVELATIONS advance in return for his endorsement. Abduction writer Budd Hopkins studied Mr. Ed and determined that—you guessed it—the Florida contractor had been abducted by little aliens who needed to learn about human emotions! Media reaction ranged from skepticism to outright laughter. Many veteran ufologists resigned from MUFON and went back into the ranks of what Dr. Hynek had once called the invisible Skeptics like Philip Klass, who had a field day with these absurd claims, were elated when it was revealed that "pillar of the community," Mr. Ed, had had several brushes with the law in years past, a fact that his book failed to disclose. But the most curious chapter in the sleazy chronicles of Gulf Breeze was still to be written. It exploded suddenly in a very unexpected form. This time the U.S. intelligence community was right at the center of the controversy. FREE THE GULF BREEZE SIX! It is on July 9, 1990, three weeks before the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein, that six U.S. Army Intelligence specialists deserted their posts in Augsburg, Germany. Presumably such mass desertion did not go unnoticed at the 701st Military Intelligence Brigade, where their mission had been the analysis of foreign communications. Yet incredi- bly, the six soldiers were not caught until Saturday, July 14, when a Gulf Breeze policeman stopped a van that had a broken taillight. What were they doing in the little Florida town that had become the UFO mecca of the United States? A soldier who had no driver's license was at the wheel of the van. He reportedly begged the cop not to run his identity through his computer. "You will be signing my death warrant," he Naturally, the policeman did what he was supposed to do: he checked the fellow's name, arrested the soldier for being absent without leave, and called the Army. He was in for a surprise when he got back to the station: a higher authority took over the case at once and instructed the Gulf Breeze police to hold the young man, but not to interrogate him!