Fort Moore, Fort Liberty, Fort Eisenhower, Fort Walker and Fort Cavazos are among the names being recommended by the commission tasked with renaming nine Army posts named for Confederate leaders.
The names announced May 24 will be included in the commission’s final report to Congress, which is due Oct. 1.
After a monthslong effort that yielded 34,000 submissions, the commission tasked with renaming military installations that honor Confederate leaders has released a list of 87 possible new names for nine Army posts.
Commissioners will continue engaging with installation and community leaders and local groups as they work to whittle down the list and deliberate final name recommendations.
Recommendations are due to Congress by Oct. 1.
The list includes Medal of Honor recipients and Army icons, as well as Courage and Central Texas.
Eight people, including two retired Army general officers and a former drill sergeant, have been chosen to serve on a commission tasked with renaming military installations honoring Confederate leaders.
The commission was mandated by the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which contains a detailed three-year process for renaming or removing Confederate names from U.S. military installations. Army forts named for Confederate generals have received the most attention, but the law also applies to ships, buildings, streets, parks, monuments or any other display.
Key lawmakers from the Senate Armed Services Committee recently expressed confidence in the Army’s efforts to address issues such as command climate, culture change and sexual assault and harassment.
The senators on Feb. 4 received a closed-door briefing on the Army’s response to the findings and recommendations from the Fort Hood Independent Review Committee’s assessment of the Texas post. Two of the three co-chairs of the Army’s People First Task Force, which was created to address the report’s findings, spoke to the senators.
The Army’s top civilian leader is pledging to seek “enduring change” during a challenging year that has seen the service grapple with a global pandemic, the death of Spc. Vanessa Guillen and calls for increased diversity and inclusion in the ranks.
“The Army is committed to taking a hard look at ourselves, and in doing so, there has been a reckoning,” Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said Aug. 6. “We have to address the challenges and failures our soldiers endure.”
A new report from the Heritage Foundation stresses the importance of military installations as a contributor to military power, citing Fort Hood, Texas, as a prime example.
A Department of the Army campaign to remove excess property by integrating strategic partners would result in measurable readiness gains for the Army.
