Army Secretary Open to Renaming Fort Hood

Fort Hood, right here in Central Texas, is one of 10 Army posts that could be getting a new name.

According to Stars and Stripes, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy wants a “bipartisan discussion” about changing the name of 10 Army Posts across the country. The service posts in question are all named after prominent Confederate generals who served in the Civil War. Fort Hood was named after General John Bell Hood.

The potential name change is seen as a change in the Army's position, as previous discussions were shut down due to the Army saying they had no real intentions of changing the names of any of their installations.

Among the other posts that have been considered for a name change are Camp Beauregard and Fort Polk in Louisiana; Fort Benning and Fort Gordon in Georgia; Fort Bragg in North Carolina; Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Lee and Fort Pickett in Virginia; and Fort Rucker in Alabama.

The Army's position on this coincides with the recent Marine Corps decision to ban the  Confederate flag on all of its bases. Marine commandant Gen. David Berger wrote, “This symbol has shown it has the power to inflame feelings of division. I cannot have that division inside our Corps.”

So, what to rename Fort Hood should the decision be made to do so? A Task & Purpose article from July of 2019 suggests Fort Hood be renamed to honor Special Forces Master Sgt. Roy Benavidez - a Texas native who received the Medal of Honor for his heroics in the Vietnam War. His story is truly amazing and worth your time to read about him.

There is no timetable to rename these 10 Army posts, but the discussion will happen and there will be those that both favor and oppose the final decision.

What are your thoughts?