Renaming

The chaplain who gave an invocation at the “redesignation” of Ft. Hood to Ft. Cavazos on Tuesday alluded in his prayer to the fact that, in Scripture, changing of a person’s name reflected God’s giving each one a new mission. Think of Abram to Abraham and Jacob to Israel in the Old Testament and Simon to Peter in the New Testament.

Big things are happening when God changes a name and gives that person a new mission. It’s a mission God intends those people to do through His grace and blessings. God does not leave them on their own to do things for Him.

I love the idea of Ft. Cavazos being given a new mission. While the Army’s mission must be unchanging: to fight and win our nation’s wars, if it can be done with the integrity and the dedication and professionalism of Richard Cavazos, we’ve got a great mission ahead born of the legacy he left behind. It was a big, important day and we’re proud and glad, my Soldier and I, that we were able to attend.

The post was named Hood for reasons that are murky in the mists of time, but we do know that John Hood, a general officer of the Confederate Army during the Civil War, was relieved of command after a series of severe, unsuccessful assaults on Union troops that led to terrible losses for his side. Why anyone would want to name an Army post after someone with such inauspicious a history remains a mystery. While I do not condone speaking ill of the dead, naming a post after anyone who was disloyal to the United States of America is never a good idea, and further to choose one who was relieved of command due to some very bad decisions with even worse outcomes, seems like a bad idea.

And now we have Ft. Cavazos, named for General Richard Cavazos, a retired four star general who was cut from the cloth of the most professional, courageous, and extremely savvy U.S. Army officers. From what we were told by Soldiers who knew him and from what I’ve read, General Cavazos loved Soldiers and believed that the best training and the best leadership would save lives. And because of that love and belief, he worked hard to ensure they got what the needed. We need many more leaders like him. And we have many.

General Cavazos left an amazing legacy of compassionate, professional senior Soldiers whom he personally mentored, even after he retired, and they in turn influenced those coming up behind them. We are blessed to have had such a man at the highest levels of command in our United States Army. We should know about men like Richard Cavazos and all who stand on his shoulders to this day.

We ended the day’s events with the Army Song as always, which I love! I haven’t sung the Army song in several years so I sang it maybe a bit more robustly than I used to, though I always sang it loud and clear for all to hear when my husband was still in uniform! Our Soldiers need our support and our appreciation. If, at this point, I can only show that through a song and a smile when I’m near them, then that’s what I’m going to do!

Hooah!