Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen says a local base should follow suit after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s recent order to restore the name of a North Carolina special operations forces base.

“It’s time to change the name back to Ft. Rucker!” Allen wrote in a post to X on Monday night in response to Hegseth’s announcement that he had signed a memorandum reversing the naming of Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg.

Fort Novosel and Fort Bragg were renamed in 2023 after former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approved removing the names of Confederates from nine military bases.

Novosel had been Fort Rucker, named for Col. Edmund Rucker, a brigade commander in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.

Although Fort Bragg was previously named after Braxton Bragg, who served as an Army general in the Mexican American War and later served as the Confederate general in the Civil War, it will now be named for Private First-Class Roland L. Bragg, who served in the Army during the Second World War, according to the order.

Fort Novosel’s current name honors Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael J. Novosel, Sr., a Medal of Honor recipient with ties to Army Aviation, the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence, and the Wiregrass region in southeast Alabama.

“Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael J. Novosel, Sr., epitomizes what an Army Aviation Soldier should be,” Maj. Gen. Michael C. McCurry, U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence and Fort Rucker commanding general said previously.

“His legacy of courage under fire in support of soldiers on the ground is what we train for and expect of our soldiers. It is an honor for the Home of Army Aviation to bear his name.”