Fort Polk JRTC Visitor Center; Main Gate — Attraction in Leesville

I trained at Fort Polk, and can pass this on:

Many think it was named for President Polk. It was not. It was named for Leonidas Polk, a Confederate general who was also an Episcopal bishop. He was Pres. Polks second cousin, tho.

He was well connected and got an appointment he was not qualified for. Battles he was involved in were mostly disasters - one Union paper called him the best general we have, for a pretty good joke.

I have wondered about his choice for the name Camp Polk (later Fort Polk). He was from Louisiana, and the place is in Louisiana, ok. But there were other Louisiana people in the Lost Cause. May be, if the history were researched, we might find some one thought naming a U.S. Army Camp after him would also be a pretty good joke.

If so, maybe we Liberty and Union types should have supported the name changing back to General Joke Polk.

But that is all by the way. It turns out it has been renamed Fort Polk for General James H. Polk, a commander of Patton’s. An excellent solider, by all accounts. But he was obviously picked as the most worthy solider of the U. S. Army ever to bear the name of ‘Polk’. That way, they retain the old name, and de-confederatize it as well.

All the other Confederates in U.S. Armed Forces installations have got the same treatment. Specially creative was the re-naming of Fort A.P. Hill in VA. Now, instead of General A. P. Hill, it is named after three Medal of Honor awardees: Bruce Anderson, Robert Pinn, and Edward Hill.

Afaik, the only confederate-named military installation left is a Texas National Guard place called Camp Maxey. Some state places like that dropped the confederate name, but did not adopt any new one. Like, Camp Pendleton in VA is now ‘State Military...

Like one has said in the reviews, the wet noodle of a man behind the counter was extremely unhelpful. Said there was absolutely no way i could get any help with my problem. Made one phone call and they gave me 2 solutions. I get back to the "welcome" center and all of a sudden he remembered that was possible when mentioned. Talked to another worker and he was extremely helpful, gave me tips, told me exactly what needed to be done, and understood my frustration. The other 2 could have cared less and basically said ur SOL lol. Hire new people, the ones behind the counter(aside from George) could care less. Terrible...

Went during Christmas. Gate officers were great, had no problems entering or leaving as long as we followed instructions. However, when the Welcome staff turned from their Christmas break , that’s when it went down hill. My son was under 18, but without a state ID they wouldn’t let him in. I called my enlisted son to come sponsor him which is required. They told him no also. The gate officers may want to trial the welcome staff about how to...