When Marvin Samuels, a veteran who served more than 20 years in the Army, recently opened a restaurant in Fayetteville, N.C., he chose a special name: Liberty Island Foods.
It was an homage, he said, to the nearby military base, Fort Liberty, where he had served for several years. The base had been known as Fort Bragg, named after a Confederate general who owned enslaved people. Then in 2023, the Defense Department renamed it.
But several weeks after Mr. Samuels’s restaurant opened in January, the new Defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, announced a reversal — back to Fort Bragg, this time named after an enlisted Army soldier named Roland L. Bragg, who fought in World War II.
Mr. Samuels shrugged it off. But the change did leave him wondering: How else would the new administration’s orders affect this city, which is so deeply intertwined with the military?
Since returning to office, President Trump has sought to overhaul the Pentagon, starting with his choice of leader, Mr. Hegseth, a veteran, a former Fox News host and a vocal Trump loyalist. Mr. Hegseth has ordered Defense Department officials to draw up plans to cut 8 percent from the defense budget over each of the next five years. And he has slashed D.E.I. initiatives and barred transgender troops from serving.
The residents of Fayetteville, a diverse city of 210,000, are acutely aware that their fortunes are tied to Fort Bragg. With more than 52,000 military personnel, Fort Bragg is the largest military base by population in the country, and the economic engine of the region. In 2023, one estimate showed that the Army base had an $8.1 billion economic impact on Fayetteville.
The culture of Fort Bragg — its work ethic, global ties and diverse makeup — has also rubbed off on the city.
Signs around town refer to Fayetteville as “America’s Can Do City.” Restaurants serve cuisines from all over the world. Bakeries are versed in filling last-minute cake orders for Army personnel just returning from abroad. And military-speak is thrown around in casual conversations. (On a recent afternoon at a local cafe, a man told a friend that he was “P.C.S.-ing in a few months,” using the acronym for Permanent Change of Station to describe that he was moving.)
State Representative Mike Colvin, a Democrat whose district includes Fort Bragg, said that “Fayetteville prides itself on its cultural diversity, from what the military brings to the community, and it’s woven into our culture.”
The prospect of big change at Fort Bragg is bound to be felt in the larger metro area, which is filled with veterans and active-duty military families.
When it comes to the military’s financial cuts, Mitch Colvin, the Democratic mayor of Fayetteville, and Mike Colvin’s older brother, said that “there is a lot of uncertainty, which causes people anxiety.”
“Everybody knows that every level of government can be more efficient,” the mayor said. “Now, what’s going to be interesting to me is how they said they’re going to build the strongest, mightiest military in the world — and make these cuts. I’ll be really interested to see what that looks like.”
Jerritt A. Lynn, a U.S. Army special operations veteran who has been stationed in Fort Bragg for more than a decade, said he was concerned about the possible reduction because “generally that means a reduction in support to the war fighter.”
“Most people, whatever their job, whatever their objective and mission is, they’re trying to keep their head down, get it done and do their best to try and tune out the noise,” Mr. Lynn said. “It’s impossible, though, not to feel the weight of, ‘OK, how does this affect me, how does this affect my family?’”
Several soldiers in interviews said that while opinions vary on Mr. Hegseth’s policies — especially over cutting D.E.I. and barring trans troops — there was a general desire to steer clear of politics and instead commit to their training, just as they always have.
But Mr. Hegseth, who served in the U.S. Army National Guard from 2001 to 2021, appears to be a polarizing figure around town.
Some veterans and military members felt gratitude for having a boss with a “warrior mind-set” that they believed would benefit soldiers.
“I like the fresh, new-blood in office,” said Jordan Murray, who used to work in the defense contracting business in Southern Pines, N.C., roughly 30 miles from Fort Bragg. “I think Pete brings a reasonable standpoint to what we need in the world today.” That standpoint, she said, was rooted in Christian values.
Others said Mr. Hegseth’s inexperience would be detrimental to Fort Bragg and that the administration’s anti-D.E.I. policies would stir division.
Dorothy Anderson, a retired U.S. Army Nurse Corps officer, criticized the Trump administration’s recent firing of the military’s highest-ranking officials. “You’ve gotten rid of all of these folk in positions, Black males, white females,” she said. “You remove them despite the fact that they have been stellar performers and contributors to this country.”
Others wondered whether the administration was plugged into the actual issues facing soldiers.
They cited the renaming of Fort Bragg as an example. The first name change cost about $6 million, for new signage on highways and on the base. It is unclear how much it will cost to change it back. But Peter Brierton, who has a relative based in Fort Bragg and lives in Southern Pines, said he had wondered “if it was really that important to change the name.”
The rebrand is clearly underway. Gift shops downtown are selling sweaters that read, “It will always be Fort Bragg.” At the local military museum, the gift shop was selling Fort Liberty tote bags for $6, more than half off. And at the base’s visitor center, a Fort Liberty sign, hanging next to a Trump portrait, was covered by paper, with “BRAGG” printed in bold type.
On a recent warm night, Mr. Samuels, the owner of Liberty Island Foods, was cooking up his Caribbean specialties, gooey and golden sweet plantains and brown stew chicken. Even though his restaurant had lost its eponym, he felt no stress. Instead, he said, he hoped soldiers and their families would do well financially in the coming months, and maybe stop by for a meal.
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