Base Name Changes. What's Next? Alabama Republican Rep. Mike Rogers will help decide.

 

A Politico post:

The Pentagon has 3 years to strip Confederate names from (Ft. Rucker and nine other bases). Here's what comes next:

"The National Defense Authorization Act mandates the removal of Confederate names from Defense Department-owned property within three years.

Lawmakers' rebuke of President Donald Trump's efforts to tank annual defense policy legislation last week has paved the way for a years-long process to remove the names of Confederate leaders from military bases...

The process: The legislation mandates the removal of Confederate names, symbols, monuments and other honors from Defense Department property — including bases, buildings, streets, ships, aircraft, weapons and equipment — within three years and tasks the eight-member panel with carrying it out. The bill exempts Confederate grave markers from the review.

The commission is charged with developing criteria for identifying Confederate monuments and recommending procedures for renaming the property and gathering input from local communities.

The bill does not explicitly task the commission with coming up with new names for bases, buildings or other property that's selected for renaming, though a Senate aide said the panel has the latitude to do so. The aide added that if the panel doesn't wade into the issue, the Army secretary or defense secretary have the authority to kick off a process to come up with new names.

The panel is required to brief the House and Senate Armed Services Committees on its progress by Oct. 1.

The commission must present a written report by Oct. 1, 2022, that details the assets that will be removed or renamed, the criteria used to select them, the local input gathered and the costs associated with the removals and renamings. The Pentagon will have until early 2024 — three years after the bill's enactment — to implement the commission's plan.

The panel: The eight members of the panel must be appointed by the Pentagon and congressional leaders within 45 days of the defense bill's enactment.

The defense secretary is tasked with appointing half the panel members. The four leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees — Reps. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) and Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) — each must appoint one panelist.

The panel must then hold its first meeting within two months of the bill becoming law."

So who will Rep. Rogers appoint? And what will Fort Rucker become?

Fort Rucker is north of, but not in, Rep. Rogers 3rd District.

Full Politico article is HERE.

 

 

Not for the first time, I propose Rucker be named for a true American hero. Lt. Gen Harold Moore.