Garrison Commander Col. John Lawrence Visits KJCK Studios

KJCK Mark Ediger interviewing Garrison Commander Col. John Lawrence, photo courtesy U.S. Army Fort Riley Garrison Commander Facebook

Fort Riley has a major economic impact on the Flint Hills region.

Garrison Commander Colonel John Lawrence said that the independent analysis done by the Matrix Design Group assessing Fort Riley’s impact on the region was a big talking point at the Regional Leader’s Retreat held earlier this month.

“Their report confirmed that Fort Riley is a large impact on the Flint Hills Region to the point of 45% of the economic impact of the five county region,” said Lawrence. “That’s a $10 billion economic schedule, but 4.5 billion of that is related to the military.”

Officials at Fort Riley are working to keep the major economic engine thriving.

“We just signed an agreement with the Veteran’s Administration to bring 150 new jobs to Fort Riley and allowing them a facility on the post to work with; this will not only help our civilian population and create some jobs, but it will also solidify that Fort Riley is a post that wants to be there in the future, and we’re working with different partners using excess capacity filling that with federal employees and keeping the Division safe and sound at Fort Riley,” said Lawrence.

In continued efforts working with the community, Lawrence said that he has been coined the “Mayor of Fort Riley”.

“I work with a lot of the local and the political leaders throughout the state and it’s very important that we be connected with the local communities and Fort Riley; and the two Mayors of both Junction City and Manhattan work very closely with me,” said Lawrence.

The number one goal for soldiers at Fort Riley, Home of the Big Red One is undoubtedly “readiness”, but Lawrence said that they also support and become a part of the community.

“[Soldiers] support the economy, they support the region and they’re good neighbors; we have 87 partnerships across the region in Junction City, Chapman, Abilene, Manhattan – you name it, we are partnered with it because we want to be a good neighbor,” said Lawrence.

Lawrence was a guest on KJCK 1420 AM – The Talk of JC morning show JC Now Tuesday morning. You can hear his entire interview here.