Major General John Kolasheski, commanding general for the 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley provided details on troop activities to a joint military affairs – military relations audience from Junction City and Manhattan on Wednesday.

Kolasheski spoke during a luncheon at Riley’s Conference Center. He touched on the Gauntlet training exercise undertaken this summer by the 1st Brigade Combat Team. “A division-run validation training exercise for 1st Brigade ahead of their deployment to the National Training Center, which is in the Mojave Desert out there on the eastern side of California where the temperatures routinely in the summer get to 120.”

Kolasheski noted that Gauntlet put the entire brigade in the field. “It was a blend of live force-on-force within a battalion that was acting as the aggressor, and it allowed us to also link them in with some constructive or virtual, some computer capabilities to replicate other units, other brigades that would have been fighting around the 1st Brigade. So really a first class operation.”

Those in attendance for the luncheon were shown photos of some of the activities during the exercise including the construction and placement of a temporary bridge in the Farnum Creek area of Milford Lake where troops and vehicles were able to cross the water safely.

Kolasheski also reported on the 2nd Brigade Combat Team return to Fort Riley this summer from a deployment to Europe. He also noted that as part of this Victory Week at Fort Riley there will be a Division Review this Friday, along with the presentation of the Victory Cup to the top unit in the sports competition being held this week on post.