Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice – oops, I meant BRAC.

BRAC – base realignments and closings – was the operative term at the January Military Affairs Council (MAC) breakfast. At one point, a shadowy figure could be seen haunting Riley’s Conference Center with a list naming the Flint Hills region.

Joking; the potential for BRAC is real.

Retired Lt. Gen. Perry Wiggins, Executive Director for the Governor’s Military Council, said that Fort Riley isn’t one of the places that should be assessed, Congressman Roger Marshall took it a step further – it’s not even on his radar.

“I’ve never heard anyone in Washington mention the word BRAC in my three or four weeks that I’ve been there, so it’s not on the radar screen that I’m aware of – with that being said, I’m not taking anything for granted; we need to be proactive, not reactive and I can’t tell you  how excited I am to work with General Wiggins…so very much we are on board with being proactive,” said Marshall.

One area of interest is increasing the training area for Fort Riley; there are currently 77,000 usable acres for training.

“For instance, he (Wiggins) mentioned the Smoky Hill base – if we could add that acreage to this base it’s going to move us from 9 to number 4 – those are very objective, measurable outcomes we can work with,” said Marshall.

Wiggins also noted that out of nearly 3000 soldiers departing Fort Riley annually, only 300 are choosing to stay in Kansas – something he believes can be worked on.

“First of all, I think we need to have some relative perspective – I don’t know if that (300) is good, bad or indifferent, but certainly there’s room for improvement and I think the more that we can do to promote continued education while we’re here, to have a transition and jobs ready for these people, the more they’ll stay,” said Marshall.

Marshall added, “and what we need to emphasize with these soldiers is the cost of living here in Kansas, it may be the lowest of any base in the entire country; so whatever the community can do to help that transition, to help integrate them into our system with good jobs is what we need to focus on.”

Caution: do not say BRAC three times in a row, especially while in staring into your bathroom mirror with the lights off. JC Post assumes no responsibility for damages.