Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth referred to a pair of U.S. military installations by their previous “non-woke” names during comments on Monday as he began implementing his commander-in-chief’s policies aimed at stripping “diversity, inclusion, and equity” (DEI) programs from the Pentagon to focus on warfighting.
In 2021, in accordance with the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, an eight-person Naming Commission issued a report recommending “new names for nine military bases,” as well as “the disposition of all Confederacy-affiliated and named Department of Defense assets on those bases.”
As such, historic bases such as Fort Bragg became Fort Liberty, while another — Fort Benning, home to the U.S. Army’s jump school — became Fort Moore. Both previous names came from generals who fought for the Confederacy.
Speaking to the Pentagon press on Monday, Hegseth used the old names.
“Every moment that I’m here, I’m thinking about the guys and gals in Guam, in Germany, in Fort Benning, in Fort Bragg,” Hegseth said in a clip posted to the X platform.
