Ripping down statues, changing school names, and attempting to erase every Confederate figure from America’s historical archives, are all part of this thing we call ‘cancel culture.’ If we can no longer be reminded of it, it didn’t happen. Why would we want to subject our children to our country’s sordid past? The obvious rebuttal to this train of thought is that reality is reality and no amount of erasing can obliterate or change the facts.
Besides figuring out what to call them, it requires little effort to change a few of a town’s street names or a couple of small bridges for the sake of political correctness. But the U.S. military is not a small town in rural Missouri. They have posts and bases and all of the roads and facilities within their vast perimeters. The Navy even names its fleet of ships.
Over the past year, a congressionally-mandated commission has wasted hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars traveling to U.S. military installations throughout the world.
Up to this point, the U.S. military is slated to change 757 names until more in need of being smudged out can be located. The commission is sniffing out anything the Department of Defense named with even the slightest reference to honoring the Confederacy.
Retired Adm. Michelle Howard, chair of the Naming Commission, released this statement; “We will update the inventory list in collaboration with the Department of Defense, including its sub-agencies and the military branches, as we continue to identify assets within our area of consideration.”
“This work is vital to understand the scope and estimated cost of renaming or removing Confederate-named assets, and will enable us to provide the most accurate report possible to Congress.”
Hang on to your britches, especially you veterans who may have fond memories of a few of these places, here’s a very brief list of some significant names being changed. Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Rucker, Alabama; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Polk, Louisiana; Fort Benning and Fort Gordon, both located in Georgia; and Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Lee, and Fort Pickett in Virginia.
On Fort Pickett alone, the commission identified roughly three dozen street signs, a plethora of troop quarters, and a fire station, all with Confederate names painted on them. Fort Rucker’s been tasked with renaming and replacing over 50 signs.
Fort Benning, Georgia has to tear down four Ranger memorials because the soldiers they commemorate were Confederates. The U.S. Navy has to rename its cruiser Chancellorsville because its name was derived from a Confederate battle victory that very few people have any knowledge of.
Another little-known fact is that the Navy’s oceanographic survey ship Maury, a relatively common male name, was named in honor of a Confederate naval officer. See ya, Maury…whoever the hell you were.
We could go on and on and we’re going to because this is too good not to. The cancel culture commission didn’t forgo West Point Academy, no siree. Pieces of artwork, only if the individual artist is still living and agrees to rename their literal masterpieces, can be left hanging. If the artist is dead, they’ll soon be joined by their painting in the afterlife.
West Point has to also change ten street names. In addition, they have to properly dispose of several memorials that have been standing where they are since the Academy’s inception in 1802.
These are all stateside name changes but the commission didn’t stop its all-expense-paid first-class trip here. They found three Naval landing craft in Yokohama, Japan named Mechanicsville, Malvern Hill, and Harpers Ferry. A quick Google search found all of these to be Confederate victories.
They likewise found a slew of renaming that needs to be done on military installations throughout both Asian and European theaters. Pretty cush job to have at ‘we the citizen’s expense’.…
The commission may have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, but that’s a drop in the bucket compared to what the ridiculous changes are going to cost.
People say that change can be a good thing, but this isn’t one of those times. Erasing the past only to have itself repeat itself by future generations who were denied a factual past to learn from is bad. Very, very bad…
