Rebranding
2025 June
2025-06-01 Pete Hegseth renamed several U.S. Naval Ships that were named after prominent women or civil rights leaders because they did not meet his criteria for a “warrior ethos”
2025-06-27 During Pride Month Pete Hegseth renamed USNS Harvey Milk to USNS Oscar V Peterson, claiming the original name was political and didn’t align with a warrior ethos.
https://x.com/SecWar/status/1938568563838886269
2025 September
2025-09-05 Trump ordered the Department of Defense be renamed to the Department of War without Congressional approval.
2025-09-30 Pete Hegseth gathered military leaders in Quantico to listen to his anti-DEI and FAFO rhetoric while he promoted his book.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-petes-cringey-fafo-threat-met-with-awkward-silence/
2025 November
2025-11-11 Trump told an audience he wanted to rename Veteran’s Day.
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/11/11/trump-veterans-day-speech-victory-day/3501762890394/
2025 December
2025-12-22 Trump announced “Trump-class” battleships (i.e. USS Defiant).
2026 January
2026-01-14 The Congressional Budget Office estimated American taxpayers would spend $125M just to rebrand the DoD as “Department of War”.
2026 February
2025-02-10 Pete Hegseth changed the name of Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg, claiming this time it was after a PFC from WWII and had no Confederate ties.