Fort Rucker renamed after honorary military officer—check it out

Fort Rucker
Fort Rucker, AL will soon have a new name. (USAACE and Fort Rucker)

Exciting news for the Fort Rucker area. The area is undergoing a name change and will soon be named after an honorary Chief Warrant Officer. Here’s what you need to know.

Fort Rucker 🤝 Fort Novosel

Michael Novosel Sr.
Meet Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael Novosel Sr., the officer the city will be named after. (US Army)

Fort Rucker will no longer be. A new name is in town: Fort Novosel. That’s right, Fort Rucker has been renamed after the late Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael Novosel Sr., a Medal of Honor recipient and resident of Enterprise, Alabama.

Novosel served in World War II in the Army Air Corps, in Korea in the Air Force and in Vietnam as an Army warrant officer and helicopter pilot. Assigned to Vietnam as a Dustoff pilot, Novosel flew helicopters evacuating combat zone casualties.

Details of the name change

Fort Rucker
What do you think about the approval for the name change to Fort Novosel? (USAACE and Fort Rucker)

The Pentagon Press Secretary, Brigadier General Pat Ryder, announced the approval of the name change last Thursday, October 6th. The approval came from an Implementation of the Naming Commission’s Recommendations issued by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III.

The installations and facilities that our Department operates are more than vital national security assets. They are also powerful public symbols of our military, and of course, they are the places where our Service members and their families work and live. The names of these installations and facilities should inspire all those who call them home, fully reflect the history and the values of the United States and commemorate the best of the republic that we are all sworn to protect

Lloyd Austin III, Secretary of Defense, The Pentagon

According to WDHN, the name Fort Rucker stems from general Colonel Edmund W. Rucker, a Confederate officer during the Civil War. After the war, Rucker became a wealthy industrialist in Birmingham who dealt with the following:

  • Coal
  • Steel
  • Sales
  • Land
  • Banking

The name changes are set to begin on December 18th marking the end of the NDAA-mandated 90-day waiting period.

How do you feel about the new name change for Fort Rucker? Tag us @TheBamaBuzz on socials and let us know.

Tira Davis
Tira Davis
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