By Dewey Terrill
JC Post
Soldiers are in the process of returning from overseas deployments to Fort Riley. That and many other topics were discussed by Garrison Commander Col. Stephen Shrader during the JC Now show on 107-9 FM and 1420 KJCK this week.
On the return of troops Shrader stated flights have arrived that brought in Combat Aviation and 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team soldiers. Shrader stated Fort Riley is getting closer to a full nest. “We’ve got several more main body flights to go. If you recall back in March we were at our high side, our peak of soldiers deployed, probably around 10,000 soldiers between NTC and our forward deployed soldiers. We leveled out about 6, 400. And so we’re whittling that 6,400 down now. By the end of November we’ll have everybody back inside the doors, a full nest for Fort Riley and a full nest for the community.”
Total active duty soldiers assigned to the installation are just under 15,000 and there are just under 17,000 family members and dependents.
A number of programs help with the re-integration and uniting of soldiers back with their families. That could include Army Community Services with the Directorate of Morale, Welfare and Recreation services.”It’s everything from legal counseling to financial counseling. It’s really about communicating with the leadership and the soldiers and the families that are coming back in because every family is different, and their needs are different. So it’s understanding what resources are available within the ACS and pointing that family to one they need the most.”
There was recently a groundbreaking for new housing on Post with the privatized housing partner, Corvias, that works with the garrison and housing office. Shrader stated it’s called the Corvias Solutions Investment, a $325 million investment program that covers six installations including Fort Riley. Shrader noted for this installation that equates to $62 million in development costs, “Ninety-six new Junior NCO homes, which is what we did the groundbreaking for last week. We’ve got 32 homes on the installation that we’ll fully renovate in our old Rimrock area down on the historic Main Post. We’ll put new roofs on about 80 historic Main Post homes, which are all historic homes.” Shrader added energy conservation measures will also be done for all 3,827 homes on the installation.
The new homes will replace other older homes that will be demolished. “We’ll peak as we build out these new 96 Junior NCO homes so we’ll raise in total population by 96 units. Once those homes are done and we put soldiers and families into them our oldest facilities that we have on the installation, our oldest housing, we’ll cycle those up for demolition and continue that process. ” Shrader added when you looking at the total portfolio footprint for Fort Riley out of 3,827 homes about 56% have either been fully renovated or new work done by Corvias since they have been working as the privatized housing partner. The new homes will be built in the Warner Peterson housing area on Custer Hill.
The 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team recently had an opportunity to train with the new enhanced night vision goggles and the family of weapons sites. Shrader said it increases the lethality and readiness for the soldiers. “Those enhanced night vision goggles bring about the ability to see through smoke and fog and dust and whether it’s night or day brings a thermal capacity to it, brings an augmented reality capacity to it that their previous night vision goggles did not have.”
Fort Riley has signed intergovernmental agreements. One was with the City of Manhattan for use of bulk salt, another with Kansas State University for an archaeological site survey, and another with KSU involving a partnership where students can come on the installation to do surveys with cost efficiency savings for the Post. As for an agreement with Junction City and Geary County there are multiple options through the Army Community Partnership programs. Shrader said, “We regularly bring the broader Flint Hills region into Fort Riley to talk about opportunities and we’ve got a couple on the deck with Junction City as well that we’re working through. It’s all about cost efficiency and savings for both the community and for the installation.”
During the past year initiatives at Fort Riley have ranged from a fitness focus that led to new fitness equipment in the gyms as the Post prepares for the Army Combat Fitness Test. “We’ve put at this point in time just over a million dollars worth of fitness equipment in three of our different facilities, King Field House, Whitside and Leonard Gym.” Shrader also noted that Craig Fitness Center has been turned into a 24/7 gym. “We’re about to do Whitside as another 24/7 gym opportunity for soldiers and families on the installation. ”
The garrison commander said there have also been improvements converting the bowling alley to spare time interactive entertainment. “Took an old bowling alley that doesn’t get much use and was frankly losing money, and converted it into something. ” Shrader said there is bowling, hyper-bowling, glow in the dark putt putt, batting cages, you’ve a rock climbing wall, simulators and a tailgate area. “You’ve got something for everybody to really come in. The teams have been really innovative and creative in coming up with ideas to adapt programming to today’s soldiers and families and at the same time do that in a way that’s saving us money and making us more efficient across the installation.
As a result of the hard work during the past year Fort Riley has been identified as an Army Community of Excellence bronze winner. Shrader called it awesome. “We’re putting it up on signs on the installation. Thirty thousand dollars that came to the installation that we’re putting into a trail network to connect housing areas down to recreation areas.
The garrison commander said the plans for the next year include more innovation, creativity and continued efforts to make the installation better for the future of soldiers, families and civilians. “Infrastructure improvements tied to safe and quality housing. Obviously that $62 million development cost from Corvias goes a long way to that. We’ve completed a lot of barracks for restoration and modernization funding. FY 19 we got about $37.8 million of funding to renovate three of our barracks, and we’re going to focus and we’re going to focus on three additional barracks, we’re going to compete for FY 20. So it’s all about creating the current infrastructure on the installation and supporting the soldiers that are there, and creating future infrastructure that’s going to support the soldiers and the mission training for the Big Red One and our attendant units.”
You can listen to Col. Stephen Shrader’s interview at https://www.jcpost.com/category/podcasts/jc-now/