The Army base was named after a Confederate general and has been plagued by a series of suicides and homicides. The change is in effort to confront racial injustice and inequality in military ranks.
Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, named after a Confederate general and long plagued by a series of suicides, homicides and fatal accidents, will be renamed on Tuesday after the Army's first Hispanic four-star general.
The change at one of the country's largest military installations follows efforts by the military to confront racial injustice and inequality in its ranks, particularly in the aftermath of the 2020 killing of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis. The renaming of bases became a heated political issue in the final months of the Trump administration, when the former president blasted the idea, accusing others of wanting to "throw those names away."
"The job of the Department of Defense is to keep America safe from our enemies. But we can't do that if some of those enemies lie within our own ranks," Austin said at his confirmation hearing. Austin reached the highest post in the Pentagon through West Point, the elite military academy that is only now beginning to come to terms with a legacy of racism.
The 2020 killing of 20-year-old soldier Vanessa Guillen and deaths of several other service members on the base prompted the Army to order an independent review into the climate and culture at the base.Cecily Aguilar goes to trial in January 2023 for role in Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillen's death
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