It has been too long coming, but the Pentagon recently issued a directive to the U.S. Military to proceed with plans to rename nine Army bases in six states and hundreds of other items whose names honor the Confederacy by the end of 2023. The directive is, perhaps, a step in the right direction to reckon with decisions made at the end of the civil war – over 150 years ago – that have had dire consequences in our society.

Army Brigadier General, Ty Seidule, a professor emeritus at West Point, who grew up in Virginia, sat on the Pentagon’s Naming Committee.  General Seidule says that growing up in his home state, he personally bore witness to what he described as a systematic effort to negate the terms of the confederate army surrender by naming schools and other institutions after confederate leaders and displaying statues in their honor, despite the indisputable fact that Robert E.Lee and the confederacy committed treason against the United States.

The nine bases are, by state;

Alabama:             Ft.  Rucker

Georgia:             Fts. Benning and Gordon

Louisiana:           Ft.  Polk

North Carolina:   Ft.  Bragg

Texas:                 Ft.  Hood

Virginia:              Fts. A.P. Hill, Lee and Pickett

May this small, but important step lead to others that help this country heal and live up to its true potential.