An independent commission tasked with delivering a full cost analysis of renaming nine U.S. Army posts that honor Confederate officers delivered its verdict Monday, setting the overall price at around $21 million.
That estimate covers everything involved in rebranding welcome marquees and street signs to water towers and hospital doors, AP reports.
The Naming Commission released its final report on recommending the new Army base names to Congress on Monday.
It included a 17-page list of assets that are tied to the Confederacy, from the decals on 300 recycling bins at Fort Bragg in North Carolina to the sign for a softball field at Fort Hood in Texas.
The move follows a broader trend across the country to delete the Confederacy from the annals of national history.
As Breitbart News reported, the cost analysis for military bases follows moves by a congressionally appointed commission tasked with recommending new names for bases honoring Confederates.
It unveiled a list of recommendations in May which, if adopted, would see Army bases named after women and black Americans for the first time.
There were a total of nine name change recommendations released for the initial rebranding. They included, according to the commission’s website:
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Fort Benning, Georgia — renamed Fort Moore after Lt. Gen. Hal and Julia Moore.
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Fort Bragg, North Carolina — renamed Fort Liberty after the value of liberty.
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Fort Gordon, Georgia — renamed Fort Eisenhower after General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower.
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Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia — renamed Fort Walker after Dr. Mary Walker.
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Fort Hood, Texas — renamed Fort Cavazos after Gen. Richard Cavazos.
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Fort Lee, Virginia — renamed Fort Gregg-Adams after Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams.
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Fort Pickett, Virginia — renamed Fort Barfoot after Tech. Sgt. Van T. Barfoot.
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Fort Polk, Louisiana — renamed Fort Johnson after Sgt. William Henry Johnson.
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Fort Rucker, Alabama — renamed Fort Novosel after Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael J. Novosel, Sr.
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Now those new names have been given a dollar costing.
The renaming process was laid out in a law passed by Congress in late 2020.
Cars pass by a community sign for Fort Bragg May 13, 2004 in Fayettville, North Carolina. The 82d Airborne Division was assigned here in 1946, upon its return form Europe. In 1951, XVIII Airborne Corps was reactivated here and Fort Bragg became widely known as the “home of the airborne.” Today Fort Bragg and neighboring Pope Air Force Base form one of the largest military complexes in the world. (Logan Mock-Bunting/Getty Images)
File/Circa 1942: Group view of the soldiers of the 41st Corps of Engineers standing in formation and holding the American flag, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, World War II (1939-1945). (Hulton Archive/Getty)
The secretary of defense is expected to implement the commission’s plan no later than Jan. 1, 2024.
Fort Bragg, named after Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, is the only base that would not be named after a person. It would be called Fort Liberty.