Posted on 04/30/2025 11:06:30 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have put Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on notice: Don't mess with the name Fort Cavazos.
With support from President Donald Trump, Hegseth has begun reversing a Biden-era initiative to remove the names of Confederate figures from military installations. Hegseth has restored names with Confederate connotations to two Army bases, and he has vowed to continue.
That has sparked fears that the Central Texas armored division base named for Gen. Richard E. Cavazos, the Army's first Hispanic four-star general, could be next.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is trying to get in front of such a move.
In a letter to Hegseth on Tuesday, the caucus recounted how a bipartisan commission charged with renaming military facilities that bore Confederate names had "thoughtfully selected" Cavazos as the new namesake for Fort Hood. The Army fort had been named for Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood. The rebranding took effect in May 2023.
“Keeping the military installation in Killeen, Texas, as Fort Cavazos would be an ongoing tribute to a leader who dedicated his life to our nation," said the letter, signed by Castro and eight other leaders of the Hispanic caucus.
"Maintaining his name ensures that our military installations honor those who served with distinction and upheld this country’s highest values,” the letter said. “We urge you to uphold the Renaming Commission’s decision and ensure that Fort Cavazos continues to bear the name of this distinguished American hero.”
The letter noted that Cavazos fought in Korea and Vietnam, was awarded two Distinguished Service Crosses for heroism and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on Jan. 3 by then-President Joe Biden. Cavazos, who grew up on King Ranch in South Texas, died in San Antonio in 2017 at age 88. He is buried in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.
Congress created the renaming commission as part of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, the bill that sets defense policy and spending priorities. The legislation directed Pentagon officials to strip Confederate names from all “assets of the Department of Defense.”
Trump, then in his first term as president, vetoed the bill and called it an effort to “rewrite history.” A bipartisan majority in Congress easily overrode the veto.
In 2023, the commission changed the names of nine Army installations in the southern U.S., including Fort Hood.
Hegseth is on record saying the renaming was “crap” and “garbage” — a craven surrender to “woke” ideology. In early February, he restored the name Fort Bragg to the massive Army post in North Carolina that the naming commission had rechristened Fort Liberty.
It was originally named for Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg. Barred by law from honoring a Confederate, Hegseth devised a legal workaround. He renamed the fort for an obscure World War II private, Roland Bragg, who won a Silver Star for heroism in the Battle of the Bulge.
"Bragg is back!" the defense secretary declared then.
“We’re not done,” Hegseth added.
In March, he restored the name Fort Benning to an Army base in Georgia that had been rechristened Fort Moore in 2023.
The fort was originally named for Confederate Gen. Henry Benning. It was renamed in honor of Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and his wife, Julia Compton Moore, both of whom are buried at the post. Hal Moore was best-known for leading a battalion of troops in the 1965 Battle of Ia Drang in Vietnam, an ordeal detailed in the book “We Were Soldiers Once… and Young” and a 2002 movie, “We Were Soldiers.”
Hegseth rechristened the base in honor of Cpl. Fred G. Benning, an Army corporal who served during World War I and received the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism on the battlefield in France.
Fort Hood, a 340-square-mile installation about 160 miles northeast of San Antonio, is the nation’s largest active-duty armored military post.
Retired Army Gen. Peter Chiarelli, who served as commander of Fort Hood during the Iraq War, has said he hopes Hegseth will leave the post alone.
"Cavazos understood modern mounted warfare, he was from the area, grew up on the King Ranch and he was just a hero to so many of us for so long,” said Chiarelli, a former Army vice chief of staff. "I can’t believe that anyone would want to go back and take his name off of Fort Cavazos and replace it with Hood or anybody else.
"I hope that won’t happen because I think it’s just absolutely fitting that we remove the name of a seditionist and add the name of a true hero and Medal of Honor recipient."
Hegseth's campaign to restore the original names of military bases is part of a wider effort against identity politics, which he contends have weakened the armed forces. Under executive orders issued by Trump, the defense secretary has ordered an end to diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the military services.
Commands have been told to erase DEI references from websites, cancel DEI trainings and contracts, and cease government-supported observances of Black History Month, Women’s History Month, National Hispanic Heritage Day and other cultural awareness events.
The U.S. Military Academy disbanded a dozen cadet affinity groups, including the Society of Black Engineers, the Latin Cultural Club, a social club for LGBTQ cadets and local chapters of the Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers.
The Army and Navy have taken down web pages that showcased the contributions of female soldiers and sailors, and the service branches abandoned a tradition of recruiting at the Black Engineer of the Year Awards, an annual conference that attracts students, academics and professionals with technical and scientific backgrounds.
The Air Education and Training Command in San Antonio pulled from its basic training curriculum for Air Force recruits a short film celebrating the contributions of the all-Black Tuskegee Airmen. The video made the case that a diverse military is more innovative and effective.
I grew up with it being called Ft. Hood and it’s still Fort Hood to me. I do not acknowledge it as Ft. Cavazos and never will.
And Walkeen Castro is the Chief Dismantler.
Any way to assert that “this is mexico” they will do. Including overamping their role in the nation, which for most of its history has been them trying to destroy it.
PS: A cousin of mine won a CMH in WWII. No bases named after him.
Yep, it’s Ft Hood and it needs to go back to it original name and not the woke name.
“The legislation directed Pentagon officials to strip Confederate names from all “assets of the Department of Defense.””
Trump needs to remove this law while he has the Congess.
Fort Hood it is. Build another base and name it for the Mexican.
To the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
You’re not special
Regards, the American Caucus
All part of the “reconquista” movement.
Please President Trump, don’t stop and go full speed ahead.
Or else what, exactly?
I drove by Fort Polk in Louisiana last month and it was called Fort Johnson.
“The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is trying to get in front of such a move.”
OH BULLCRAP. This is show boating. Fort Cavazos was never under threat of being renamed.
Pronto.
I couldn’t agree more.
Agreed.
There's been talk of needing a new base near the border for deportees. Let's do it!
The Fort Cavazos Detainment And Deportation Base
How about asking those who gave blood, sweat and tears to the US by training and serving at this base before listening to some goofy politician’s woke wet dream. Many soldiers spent a couple of years at Fort Hood before deployment to dangerous parts of the world! I was one of them. I would want the base to continue to be Fort Hood.......
All the name changes was such BS
Cavazos was a great guy. Fort Hood has a long history and deserves it’s historic name. A lot of men went there and did great things, and men died after last being there.
The great cultural revolution needs to be reversed.
I was an Air Liaison Officer on Ft Hood for a couple of years. It will always be Ft Hood to me too.
Funny how the people who wanted everything renamed no object to renaming.
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