Will the Fort Moore name remain? New defense secretary refers to Army post as Benning
The former Fort Benning has been called Fort Moore for over a year and a half, but comments from the new U.S. Secretary of Defense prompts the question:
Will the Army post continue to be named Moore, or will it revert to Benning?
Pete Hegseth was confirmed as President Donald Trump’s defense secretary Friday afternoon, according to Associated Press reporting. Hegseth has been outspoken on his views of the name changes of military bases.
In a transcript, dated Monday, of Hegseth’s Pentagon arrival remarks on the defense.gov website, Hegseth referred to Fort Moore and Fort Liberty as Fort Benning and Fort Bragg.
These were the names of the bases which were renamed following the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. The act called for the renaming of Department of Defense-owned assets that honored the Confederacy.
In an interview last year with Ben Shapiro, Hegseth said, “I emailed my company commander from my infantry training, which was at Fort Benning, which is no longer Fort Benning. It’s Fort Moore. And Hal Moore’s a great guy. But, like, there’s also a generational link that breaks when you rename Benning and Bragg. Like, where’d you serve? Bragg. Where’d you serve? Benning. Where’d you serve, now Liberty? Like, it’s just, it’s garbage. It’s all, it’s just, let’s just crap all over it.”
Hegseth has advocated for reinstating the previous name of a military base in another instance. He shared this belief in an episode of The Everyday Warrior Podcast with Mike Sarraille last year.
“We should change it back, by the way,” Hegseth said while discussing the name change of Fort Bragg to Fort Liberty. “We should change it back because legacy matters. My uncle served at Bragg. I served at Bragg. It breaks a generational link.”
The Ledger-Enquirer asked the Department of Defense whether the DOD or Hegseth were considering renaming Fort Moore and Fort Liberty back to their former names of Fort Benning and Fort Bragg. The Ledger-Enquirer received the following response: “We don’t have anything to offer on this.”
CNN reported Hegseth, as secretary of defense, could advocate for reverting the bases’ names to their former names, but the changes would require congressional approval.