Fort Riley leaders touched on a variety of issues during a press briefing Friday where they unveiled the Fort Riley Campaign Plan 2020.

The plan includes multiple lines of operation.

Major General Wayne Grigsby Jr. said the list includes maintaining combat readiness. “That’s what we do. We build forces that are ready to close with and destroy the enemy. That’s just what we do.”

Sustainment of equipment, community relationships, keeping soldiers ready and resilient, and communication strategy are other lines.

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Garrison Commander Colonel Andrew Cole addressed the challenge faced by the Army of reduced resources.

He asked area communities for patience as the post deals with it, but he urged continued dialogue with Fort Riley officials through community avenues through partnerships in the region, and also at the city and county level, “as we have to do things that may ultimately that affect the $1.5 or $1.6 billion in direct economic impact that we bring to this region.”

Cole stressed patience as officials deal with the challenges of reduced force structure. “Patience is one thing that we would ask as we work through changes, as we work through varying courses of action that we have to take here on the installation to still be able to deliver and develop combat readiness.”

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Fort Riley is preparing for the 100th anniversary of the 1st Infantry Division in 2017. There will be activities leading up to that, but three days will be dedicated during Victory Week in 2017 to celebrate the 100th anniversary.

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Housing has been a concern off post for community leaders as the Army downsizes, and soldiers may move from off-post locations back into on-post housing that has been built in recent years.

Colonel Cole addressed the housing issue. “We’re looking at seeing fewer people on post, but yet we have these structures on the installation that we have to deal with. Either they’re occuppied or we have to maintain them. So ultimately what we’re doing is a combined solution in partnership not only with our housing partner formerly Picerne, now Corvias, as well as talking to our local counties and the local mayors as well. And we’re developing a combined solution on how do we still make sure that we’re maximizing to the extent that we can our on-post structures, as well as partnering with our off-post communities to make sure that again that economic impact and the opportunities that we’re providing also can dovetail into the communities.”