The US Army is expected to make a June decision when it comes down to where cuts will be made as they draw down the Army’s troop size from 490,000 soldiers to 450,000 and cuts could be looming at Fort Riley.

US Senator Jerry Moran along with his Military and Veterans Advisory Committee
met Wednesday with the Secretary of the Army John McHugh and members of his staff at the Pentagon.

“Today was an opportunity for us to have a conversation with the Army about what is going on in this process, and for us as citizens of Kansas, as community leaders and those who particularly care about Fort Riley, to convey information that we think would be valuable to increase the chances that nothing bad occurs at Fort Riley, Kansas,” explained Senator Moran during a conference call with the media shortly after the meeting.

Moran went on to explain that they did learn some new information during the meeting including that the Army is well aware of the attributes at Fort Riley.

“It was pleasing to see that they knew them well. The two most prominent was the amount of space, land and air available for training and the ability to utilize additional space besides Fort Riley. Secondly they were very aware that $1.8 billion has been spent over the last decade at Fort Riley in improvements to housing, schools and healthcare.”

Tuesday’s meeting is just one of several that Moran and others have had with Army officials following February’s Army Listening session held in Junction City.

As of right now the confidence is high that Fort Riley will not see drastic changes in the near future, though Moran did add,”while this was a very productive day we have to recognize that the competition still exists.”

Fort Riley is one of approximately 30 installations from across the nation being considered for cuts.