Posted on Jun 22, 2015
Should US military bases named after Confederates be renamed?
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What do these US military bases have in common?
Fort Bragg
Fort Rucker
Fort Hood
Fort Lee
Fort Benning
Fort Gordon
Fort A.P. Hill
Fort Polk
Fort Pickett
Camp Beauregard (Operated by the Louisiana National Guard)
They are all named for Confederate generals. There’s been talk for years about whether this is appropriate, and now in wake of Charleston and the South Carolina Confederate flag, it’s coming up again.
Do you think these posts should be renamed to honor people who fought in the U.S. Army exclusively? Vote, and share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Take the Poll:
http://www.stripes.com/military-life/military-history/poll-should-us-military-bases-named-after-confederates-be-renamed-1.353890#
Fort Bragg
Fort Rucker
Fort Hood
Fort Lee
Fort Benning
Fort Gordon
Fort A.P. Hill
Fort Polk
Fort Pickett
Camp Beauregard (Operated by the Louisiana National Guard)
They are all named for Confederate generals. There’s been talk for years about whether this is appropriate, and now in wake of Charleston and the South Carolina Confederate flag, it’s coming up again.
Do you think these posts should be renamed to honor people who fought in the U.S. Army exclusively? Vote, and share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Take the Poll:
http://www.stripes.com/military-life/military-history/poll-should-us-military-bases-named-after-confederates-be-renamed-1.353890#
Posted in these groups: 
Confederate Flag
Confederate Flag
Edited 9 y ago
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 282
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Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it (The Life of Reason, 1905, Santayana) If we want to move the country forward, we cannot forget the past. Whether we agree with it or not, it happened. Are we not going to discuss the holocaust just because they are disturbing? Keep the names. Lest ye we forget.
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To use a term everyone will understand 'OMG' will everyone stop with the persecution of this countries history. Military bases were named after outstanding leaders. The Generals of the South were still Americans fighting for American values at that time. The country was divided in values & what direction the government was going to proceed in. Everyone needs to stop. If the battle flag of Virginia during the Civil war is better displayed in a museum then so be it but to blame that same battle flag for morons with no value for human life that decide to wave that flag, wear it on a t-shirt, license plate & worship it like a God, that is their mindless fault. We should be proud of our past & learn from it not relive mistakes & make rash judgements because it happens to be in the news today. Tomorrow they won't even be talking about it because some other topic that is more news worthy will take the headlines.
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Oh Mylanta. This is going to a whole new different extreme. I think it should be isolated to S. Carolina and what they want to do. I agree what happened is horrible and that flag has some meaning behind it (like democrats carrying it, fighting to keep slave rights) so I get wanting to take it down from the courthouse, etc. Not names on basses. That is when it really starts becoming beyond ridiculous. UUhhhh.
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Absolutely... I just returned from Greece. All of the ancient ruins were destroyed by people trying to rewrite history. First the Roman empire when they became Christians, then the Turks. ISIS is doing it, so we should too. We have become a nation of cowards...we need to change team logos, ban the cross. Hide everything that could possibly offend anyone while we ignore the root cause of our problems.
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In my opinion the names should be changed. What were Confederate Generals? They were traitors to our nation. They fough against our standing government and thank god they lost. Why do we honor them with naming things after them? They supported a Government that wanted to seceed from our Nation to form their own so that their rich friends in the south could continue using free labor. They lost their honor was to liveafter commiting an acto of treason. Why not just build a base in here and name it Ft. Gorbichof that would be less disrespectful to "Old Glory"
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SSgt (Join to see)
Not to add fuel to the fire but there was more on the table besides slavery. There is always more than one issue.
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PO2 Rick Sutton
These States voted voluntarily to succeed from a Union that was dominating them by superior voting numbers by the Northern States. There could have easily existed two cooperating Countries on the continent, the Agricultural South and the Industrial North. It is also a historical fact that salve owners were approximately 17 % of the Sothern's, and there were also Northern slave holders. If you check very closely, you will find the President only freed the southern slaves, and not the northern slaves in the Emancipation Proclamation. As SSgt Toinette McGraw pointed out, there was a whole lot more to the story than simply salve ownership. These men were not traitors, in those days, States Rights and State loyalty was a very large issue in view of the fact that the Federal Government was very weak at the time and the Civil War brought them to Prominence. The Northern States forced the Civil War on the South, and during those years slavery was being eyed with disdain by most Americans and would have eventually in short order been eliminated. Again, to call these courageous and brave men traitors is unfair, and the reason the Military Establishments are named after them is because they exercised with extraordinary brilliance what most of them were taught at West Point.
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SFC (Join to see)
PO2 Rick Sutton - The whole history lesson on the Civil War doesn't negate the fact that these men were traitors. They started a war by firing on and seizing a United States military base (Ft. Sumpter), that didn't belong to the State of South Carolina . I guess that you and TSGT McGraw thought you were teaching me something about this period. The beginning of the Civil War had absolutely nothing to do with Slavery, and Abraham Lincoln was not some great hero to the slaves. The Emancipation Proclamation was a tactic to merely weaken the Southern economy thus weakening them in war. So to assume that my statement was purely based off of these men fighting to support the idea of Slavery is taken out of context.
How is it possible for them to coexist? What would be done with Slaves that ran away to the North? Would the United States be expected to send the slaves back to the confederate states? There was no way for the two to coexist, now that you make a statement like that I know exactly where your sentiment lies.
I suppose we'll name a few bases Ft. Muqtada Al Sadr, he fought for his countries rights when the US illegally invaded, hell lets go ahead and build Ft. Saddamn Hussein and Bin Laden Air Base. In someone's mind they were great men, who fought for what was right too.
How is it possible for them to coexist? What would be done with Slaves that ran away to the North? Would the United States be expected to send the slaves back to the confederate states? There was no way for the two to coexist, now that you make a statement like that I know exactly where your sentiment lies.
I suppose we'll name a few bases Ft. Muqtada Al Sadr, he fought for his countries rights when the US illegally invaded, hell lets go ahead and build Ft. Saddamn Hussein and Bin Laden Air Base. In someone's mind they were great men, who fought for what was right too.
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SFC Kenneth Hunnell
SFC James Cummings, while in general terms you are correct. Hind sight is always 20/20. I take it that you did your research on each of the Generals in question. With your analysis, all southerner's fought to keep slavery and all Northerner's fought to end it.
When making an analysis, one should use the period of time to come up with a conclusion.
Look at the oath you took upon enlisting into the military, it hasn't always existed as it is, the civil war had a lot to do with it.
Everyone that enlist do not sign up for the same reason.
Know the man before you condemn him
When making an analysis, one should use the period of time to come up with a conclusion.
Look at the oath you took upon enlisting into the military, it hasn't always existed as it is, the civil war had a lot to do with it.
Everyone that enlist do not sign up for the same reason.
Know the man before you condemn him
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Renaming the installations isn't productive and costs money to do so; there are a lot of hidden costs involved, such as printing of stationary, command plates/plaques/signage, books to update, filing, etc. If we minimize this, we risk losing part of our history and heritage. These are men who stood up for a cause (good or bad, depending on your view) based on their faith in their home State. Most people don't know or remember that Lee was offered command of the federal Army at the beginning, but turned it down because he thought his first duty was to Virginia, then to the federal government. We should be honoring that - we no longer hear the President say "these United States", but rather "the United States" which is an effect of the Civil War. A small difference of two letters with a big impact on the way we look at our country now. Average citizens don't see the States as the bigger entities that citizens 150 years ago did. By renaming the posts and becoming "politically correct", I think we lose that identity and heritage. I certainly don't agree with the Confederacy's point of view, but I don't think we should lose sight of our past and be doomed to repeat the states' rights aspect of it, especially when we are seeing that now in the fight over legalization of marijuana.
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I'm ashamed we have to deal with ideas like this coming up. Our military has been losing tradition, history, and overall quality in the name of political correctness and "fairness". Even or higher chain of command has become more politically oriented rather than military oriented. I hope we can get some serious leadership who will step back and assess the negative impact these changes have had on us. I may have been in for 10 years; but things have gone down drastically in the past 6 years.
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LCDR (Join to see)
I'd love to see a supporting fact for that aside from the "King Obummer" defense.
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PO2 David Hagwood
The fact is -- is from my experience; and the fact is -- is from the experience of others who who've been in longer than the both of us combined. It's apparent that enough people are either blind or they actually are buying in to this politically correct military. We're just more test subjects for social experiments. There's a lot more that can be said on this; but who are you, or anyone else, to argue with experience? I've talked to some officers who have given me the obvious political talking points on this subject; but I don't play that game. We're a military, a fighting force, not some dog and pony show, like we've been doing lately.
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No way, stop trying to be politically correct. thy still served in the US Military before the Civil War.
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Has our political correctness sunk this low?? Whether or not they were on the Confederate side they deserved to honored for their actions in battle and that is what naming bases after them is all about. If someone wants to take this non-issue otherwise that, IMHO is a personal issue.
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SN Greg Wright
Completely agree. Enough is enough. What's next, are they going to disinter the confederate soldiers buried at Arlington and move them?!
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