It’s been a week of new developments, and the latest is the announcement from the Department of the Army of 3500 soldiers deploying from Fort Riley.
The 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division will deploy to the Republic of Korea this month to support the United States Forces – Korea’s commitment to the nation’s Republic of Korea partners.
After a study done by the Matrix Design Group revealed that nearly half of the Flint Hills Region economy is from military spending – local community leaders may be worried.
John Seitz, Military Affairs Council (MAC) Director said that he’s confident the families of the deployed soldiers will stay here.
“A lot of the people who would be spending money in town are not here, but their families are still here…[with] these nine month deployments, school cycles and all force families to make the decision about staying here and since we have good schools that’s a real incentive for somebody in the military,” said Seitz.
For some families, the schools may not be a big enough incentive to stay while their soldier is deployed; Seitz said that we need to make sure we make them feel welcome in the community.
“We have to do exactly what we’ve been doing all along – taking care of them; make sure that we look out for them…make sure that they don’t need for something that we could provide as citizens,” said Seitz.
With the newest deployment announcement, Fort Riley may seem like a ghost town but Seitz said that even with all the deployments the numbers are still around 11 or 12 thousand on post.
“We know the Division headquarters is going to leave next month or probably the end of this month, and we know the Calvary squadron from the Aviation Brigade is going to leave at the end of the year…I’m guessing, and I don’t know the exact numbers but probably as many as 11 thousand or maybe even 12 thousand still live on post,” said Seitz.
As for an economic impact – Seitz said that you’re more likely to notice less traffic on the road at lunch time than a big blow to the local economy.
For the statement on the deployment from Fort Riley officials and the Department of the Army click here.