[Bus Insider] The top US military officer called the Confederacy "an act of rebellion," one that violated the Constitution and went "against the Stars and Stripes," as he addressed the topic of bases and statues named after Confederate leaders.US Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, discussed Thursday the possibility of renaming the 10 US Army bases named after Confederate leaders, such as Fort Pickett and Fort Hood. He appeared to express support for renaming the bases but said any plan for change would require the utmost care to prevent political consequences.
"We've also got to take a hard look at the symbology, the symbols, things like the Confederate flags and statues and bases," Milley said during a House Armed Service Committee hearing, adding that he ordered a commission for the military to explore the possibility.
Milley estimated minorities make up 43% of the US military and that at least 20% of soldiers in the Army are African American.
"For those young soldiers that go on to a base, Fort Hood or Fort Bragg or wherever, named after a Confederate general, they can be reminded that that general fought for an institution of slavery that may have enslaved one of their ancestors," Milley said.
He said that when he was a young officer at Fort Bragg, he had a staff sergeant tell him "he went to work every day at a base that represented a guy who enslaved his grandparents."
Milley called the Confederacy "an act of rebellion," adding it "was an act of treason at the time against the Union, against the Stars and Stripes, against the US Constitution."