What post name? What day is it?

Just when you thought you had a handle on what bases were named what, BRAC the post renaming committee changed everything and the old names like Ft. Hood, Ft. Benning, etc. had to be renamed to something less politically volatile than the surname of a long dead guy who fought on the wrong side. Originally the names were chosen as a means of uniting Civil War vets with vets of the War of Northern Aggression so that we could just get on with being Americans – but the folks who constantly seek to polarize and divide us seized on those names and made them a cause celebre (even though in most cases I doubt they even knew who the names actually referred to.)

So after great pearl-clutching and handwringing, not to mention somewhere north of 42,000,000 buckadingdongs, a half-dozen posts (some of which people barely knew existed) got their bright shiny new names. As expected, peace and tranquility unseen since they took the black fella off the rice, the Indian maiden off the butter, and took away the residual income from a not otherwise wealthy family in northeast Texas whose g’-grandmother appeared on syrup containers. In other words, hardly anyone in the real world  noticed (other than, of course, us.) Although I think there are at least a few readers who still aren’t sure which fort is Cavazos Hood Benning Drum Bliss whatever.

Now, one of Mr. Trump’s campaign promises was to rename the bases to their original names, and Mr. Hegseth did so in a pretty clever way by giving the forts their original names…but said they were named for other PEOPLE.  A fairly clever dodge, that… although the fiscal hawks did say that after blowing $42 mill on renaming, spending a probable additional $42mill to change the names BACK should have pissed off the DOGE boys, especially when the inevitable Democrat President down the road (we all know one’s a’comin’ sooner or later) will probably decide to  piss away another $42 mill or more re-re-naming (or is that re-re-re-?). Heck, a hundred years down the road it may have become tradition “the President was sworn in today and released the names by which military bases will be known during this administration. First one named was Fort Dweezil Zappa.”)

At least until today.

The House Armed Services Committee passed an amendment to its annual defense policy bill barring the Pentagon from using any of the funds from next year’s defense budget to rename Defense Department installations in honor of Confederate figures.

Me, I am remembering Hegseth’s ploy – he didn’t rename Bragg and Benning after Confederates, he named them after US soldiers. So technically he can spend what he wants, right?

The amendment, which was proposed by Rep. Marilyn Strickland, a Democrat from Washington, barely eked its way into the bill, with two Republicans, Rep. Derek Schmidt of Kansas and Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, voting with Democrats on July 16 to include it.

The vice chair of the base renaming commission, retired Army Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule, praised the amendment. Seidule, who led the history department at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, told USA TODAY he was “proud” of the committee for respecting “the will of the American people” as expressed when Congress created the bipartisan naming commission in 2021.USAToday

Sorry, General, I’m an American and I was OK with the old names. Have some memories of some of those posts, too (maybe not fond memories, but still.) Anyone want to bet this fella’s name appeared on a few of those “X many admirals and generals think Republicans suck” lists?

So the game plays on. Rename? Re-rename? Stay tuned. Might be fun.

Category: "The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves", "Your Tax Dollars At Work"