Fort Riley has over 100,000 acres, but only 77,00 of that is usable for training.

That was one of the key points made during the January 26th Military Affairs Council (MAC) breakfast, a joint effort between Junction City and Manhattan Chambers of Commerce.

Retired Lieutenant General Perry Wiggins, Executive Director for the Governor’s Military Council, was the keynote speaker.

“The Council will take issues and items from community members and then we package those and make sure we get those before the Governor so that he has the ear and hears from the people…and then we try to find solutions and recommend those to the Governor,” said Wiggins.

In it’s inception, the Governor’s Military Council was created as a defense for BRAC – base realignments and closings.

“When BRAC came along, organizations were built to confront BRAC; this organization has been around for about 12 years and now we need to start taking a look at how we can start working on the lines of effort that were identified by the Governor…what we need to do is we need to be able to express to those outside the community the goodness that Fort Riley brings in training, deploy-ability and quality of life,” said Wiggins.

Part of the training initiatives is being able to maximize usable space. If Fort Riley were able to utilize Smoky Hill, training capabilities would increase by nearly 35,000 acres.

“Although it’s just a short way up the road and a great place to train, we’re not able to put tanks and bradleys up there to maneuver; so we just want to make sure that we’re putting out best foot forward to use all of the assets that Central Kansas has available to train and increase the readiness of our soldiers – and Smoky Hill is a big part of that,” said Wiggins.

In recent news, military officials and notably GOP Senator John McCain have said that there needs to be a BRAC.

“The service Chiefs as well have said that, you know the 25% infrastructure overhead that they don’t need affects their readiness; so this all goes back to readiness and making sure that we only have what we need, and I concur that we’ve got to take an assessment and a look, but there’s certain places where I think we got it about right and I think Fort Riley is one of those places,” said Wiggins.

As for community, Wiggins said to keep doing what you’re doing:  “Maintain that staunch support, and keep continuing to wrap their arms around the service members and their families.”

Wiggins retired from the Military after 33 years of active duty service in October 2016.