Keep Bragg “Bragg!”

Fort Bragg, North Carolina should remain the same. Department of Defense’s stated intention to change its name is misguided and completely unnecessary, as well as expensive. Moreover, it is an insult to the millions of Black, Red, Yellow, Brown and White combat veterans like myself that proudly served there. To us, Bragg will always be Bragg.

It is the place indelibly stained with the sweat of ruck marches, runs and PT sessions of a century of service and preparation. The smell of damp TA-50 gear in the pack shed of Green Ramp. The sound of jodies being sung on Ardennes by steely-eyed paratroopers of the 82D Airborne Division. The too cool visage of the operators “behind the fence.” The proud tradition of Army Special Forces.?

No one with who I served ever thought of “Bragg” as representative of that long deceased Confederate general officer; rather, as the collective home of the Airborne. A warrior’s dream and home to thousands. Renaming Fort Bragg “Fort Liberty” – or anything else – is worse than the petty, retributive act of placing the Arthur Ashe statue on Monument Avenue in Richmond.?And, the new name change to Fort Liberty will cost the DoD $6,374,230 and does not a damn thing for enhancing readiness or improving services to Soldiers and their families.

The only people who have a problem with the name Bragg appear to be those, like Lloyd Austin, falling all over themselves to be offended. More interested in stoking the fires of ancient racism or their pusillanimous tribalism than being an American Soldier. Or, those weak politicians fawning for acceptance from a mean-hearted group of Leftists who will never like them anyway.

I pray that the new Congress reverses field on this mad decision and allows Bragg to remain Bragg. Anything else is sacrilege to those who served there.?