After Hood Junior High changed its name a few years ago, now the Army base with the same name will change too, and the people of Killeen are divided by it. Shocking I know in a red state where people are obsessed with keeping the names of people who lost a war.

The U.S. Department of Defense announced back in October 2022 that Fort Hood will be changing its name from the Confederate General who fought against the United States, to the Army's first Hispanic four-star general who just happens to be from Texas.

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Fort Hood will be renamed Fort Cavazos, after Richard E. Cavazos who was the Army's first Latino four-star general.

Of course, this is not going without pushback from Killeen residents who are calling it "cancel culture" or being "woke."

“I think it’s ridiculous,” said Killeen resident and Air Force veteran John Binkley. "The thing is, history is history. You can't change history. All you're going to do is blindfold. That's all they're doing."

"Why the change? I don't know. I don't understand. What are they trying to change?" said Army veteran John Sais.

The Killeen Daily Herald found less than 20% of those they polled were supportive of the name change, Mayor Debbie Nash-King is one of those in town that supports the name change, and she is also a veteran.

"I support the renaming of Fort Hood,” said the mayor. "I don't think you can ever erase history. But the climate that we are in today, the renaming of Fort Hood, the morale on Fort Hood, and also within the community and the nation, it's time for a change, from my perspective."

The military made the announcement they are changing Fort Hood and eight other bases across the country that are named after main Civil War figures that represent the Confederacy.

Richard Cavazos was the Army's first Latino four-star general who once commanded Fort Hood, retired in 1984, and passed away in 2017. He is buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetary.

"There was never a lot of people saying change the name," said former Killeen Mayor and Army veteran Jose Segarra. "If I had a choice to leave it Fort Hood, I would have picked 'leave it Fort Hood,' because now it's like, I was stationed at Fort Hood. That's part of my history, you know. General Hood had nothing to do with it."

My view is, the names of generals who lost the Civil War are not that important, they lost. I see the historical value of the names, but that's what history books are for, not military bases, and like the veteran said above that General Hood had nothing to do with his time there then my view is, it shouldn't be a big deal to change it.

The name change will take effect on January 1, 2024.

 

 

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