1. United States
2. Tenn.
3. Letter

Last week, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum directing Fort Liberty to change its name back to Fort Bragg, a move that will likely cost millions. The base was originally named after Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general and enslaver. Bragg lost nearly every battle that he led his troops into, causing massive casualties for the Confederate Army. One soldier who served under General Bragg called him a “merciless tyrant” who had an “uncanny ability to turn minor wins and losses into strategic defeat.” But then in 2020, Congress said that military installations named after Confederates should undergo a name change, and they banned the military from naming any future bases after members of the Confederacy. At the time, President Donald Trump vetoed the bill, but Congress had enough bipartisan support to override the veto. Renaming these bases was not inexpensive. The cost of changing Bragg to Liberty was more than $6 million, and renaming all nine bases was estimated to cost about $62.5 million. Tens of thousands of signs and all forms of communication, like websites, needed to be changed to reflect the new, non-Confederate names. Pete Hegseth said, "Fort Bragg has a long and proud history of equipping, training, and preparing our soldiers to fight and prevail in any operational environment,” indicating that the reason for the name change was about the base’s legacy. Now, the millions that were spent to change the name to Fort Liberty will have to be spent again to change the name back to Bragg. In order to get around the law banning the use of Confederate names, Hegseth ordered that the base be named after Amy Private Roland Bragg, who served for two years in WWII and later went on to own an auto body shop. More name changes are likely to come. During his first term when he vetoed the bill changing the name, the White House issued a press release saying, “President Trump has been clear in his opposition to politically motivated attempts like this to rewrite history and to displace the enduring legacy of the American Revolution with a new left-wing cultural revolution.” Confederate history is not American history, in that it was an attempt to end our great Union. Refusing to honor confederate leaders is not rewriting history, but framing any confederate leader as admirable is. If this administration truly prioritizes strict budget cuts, they should have no issue with Congress reinstating their commitment to removing confederate names from military bases. This could save tax payers millions, and would surely garner bipartisan support.