“Fort Liberty”.

This is the proposed new name for Fort Bragg that a congressional committee came up with after several months of discussion and, allegedly, community input.

With all due respect, and as a Fayetteville native: I can’t take it.

The name sounds generic. The name sounds dull.

Related reading:Why the Congressional Naming Commission Chose Fort Liberty for Fort Bragg

The army post that will soon be known as Fort Bragg is anything but generic. This post, which began as Camp Bragg in 1918, has a long and storied history that has a veritable gallery of heroes. Ignoring them all and picking a name that looks like it came from a focus group is a huge missed opportunity.

Ty Seidule, a retired Army one-star general and vice chairman of the naming commission, told a news conference on Tuesday, “We listened very carefully to local sensitivities,” in choosing the name.

Oh good?

There were over 34,000 submissions to the Naming Commission, a list that was eventually whittled down to 87 possible names. “Liberty” was not on the shortlist, says Seidule himself. The eight people on the commission made the choice, he said.

The commission does not necessarily have the final say on the name change. He will submit a final report to the US Congress by October 1. So that’s your mission. If you’re also unimpressed with the new name, reach out to Congressman Richard Hudson, whose district includes Fayetteville, and US Senators from North Carolina, Richard Burr and Thom Tillis.

Meanwhile, I still wonder how we got here – to Fort Liberty.

The purpose of the name changes, approved as part of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021, was to remove Confederate-related names from Fort Bragg, eight other Southern installations and other federal assets. . This part makes sense.

The rebels fought against the United States of America, and in the name of the enslavement of black Americans, they therefore fought against freedom itself. Their names shouldn’t have been on American installations since the dizziness.

As for a new name, I was far from alone in assuming that Fort Bragg had an embarrassing wealth of choices, and the only question was who it would be. I was eagerly awaiting the announcement from the Nominations Committee until it landed with a thump on Tuesday afternoon.

Now we learn that Fort Bragg will be the only one of nine Southern installations that will NOT bear a person’s name if the Naming Commission is successful.

It’s not a distinction anyone here wanted, as far as I know.

On the contrary, over the years I’ve seen dozens and dozens of perfectly beautiful names suggested in response to articles I wrote when a name change to Fort Bragg was just an idea.

They included unassailable possibilities like General Roscoe Robinson Jr., who commanded the 82nd Airborne and was the first African American to become a four-star general; and General Matthew “Bunker” Ridgeway, the first commander of the 82nd and Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during World War II.

They also included several Medal of Honor recipients. The Naming Commission accepted such a suggestion as a guide for other Army positions. The commission recommended that Fort Pickett, Virginia; Fort Polk, Louisiana, and Fort Rucker, Alabama, all named for Medal of Honor recipients.

Not to mention, the history of Fort Bragg includes the paratroopers who fought in the D-Day invasion in World War II and many other wars, as well as the special forces agents over the years who are on the point at this very hour, at the forefront of national defense.

Seidule said Liberty’s name came from local community meetings. He said he embodies the Special Forces motto, “Free the Oppressed” and an 82nd Division song that reads, “We’re all Americans and proud of it, because we’re the soldiers of freedom.”

Initial social media reaction on The Fayetteville Observer Facebook page and in my Facebook group, Community Conversations with Myron, was not favorable to Fort Liberty.

One person called the choice “lazy.”

One man wrote that the name reminded him of the fictional military base from “F Troop,” a satirical 1960s sitcom; someone else replied that the show’s message was called Fort Courage. “Courage” by the way, unlike Liberty, was shortlisted by the nominating committee.

Deanna L. Rosario wrote, “I literally haven’t seen anyone comment that we should call her Liberty. We should have kept it like Bragg but for Edward S instead of Braxton.

It was a reference to a mini-move to “rename” the base from Braxton Bragg’s Union Army cousin — a move Rep. Hudson himself favored in an op-ed.

Many people in the Facebook comments support keeping the name as is, which is not a legal option. Some swore they would always call it Fort Bragg, to which I say, fine. Knock yourself out. I’m sure there are people who still call Fayetteville Technical Community College, “FTI”.

Other people are more resigned to Bragg’s name change.

I asked NC Rep. John Szoka, a veteran, on this.

He said, “If we have to rename Fort Bragg, which Congress has decided we have to do, Fort Liberty is fine. I think after a few years people will get used to it.

He added, however, that something will be lost anyway.

During his years of service, Szoka said he worked with military officers from many countries: “In any case, there were two US Army posts that they all knew about, Fort Bragg and Fort Hood. Fort Bragg for the 82nd Airborne and Special Forces and Fort Hood for the armored and mechanized infantry divisions. The mention of the names of these two positions always had the same response: great respect for the abilities and power projection they possess.

In my opinion, this part does not have to change with the name.

The way I see it is that a later generation of foreign officers will all know Fort Cavazos, the proposed name for Fort Hood, after General Richard Cavazos, a decorated Vietnam War hero.

They will also know Fort Liberty, named for freedom, or if the community actually gets feedback, after one of our own heroes.

Opinion writer Myron B. Pitts can be reached at [email protected] or 910-486-3559.