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71° | Warmer, sunny. Highs in the lower 70s. South winds 10 to 20 mph. |
Category: Local
Fort Riley Garrison Commander talks about multiple topics ranging from return of troops to new housing on Post
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/
You can view Junction City’s historic Rathert Field
Rathert Field dates its’ history back to the late 1930’s. Located on the north side of Junction City, the facility serves as home to the Junction City Brigade summer collegiate baseball team, the Junction City Blue Jays and the Junction City American Legion Blues team.
JC Post photographer Javon George received a tour of the facility from Junction City Brigade General Manager Cecil Aska Wednesday and took these photos.
Kolhoff Pharmacy hosts JCHS Medical Adventures Club
JUNCTION CITY, KAN – A group of Junction City High School students learned what goes on behind the pharmacy counter during their visit to Kollhoff Pharmacy as part of the Medical Adventures program. About 15 students were welcomed by Kollhoff Pharmacy staff to spend an evening learning about the pharmacy profession. This is the third year Kollhoff Pharmacy has hosted the Medical Adventures group.
Students had the opportunity to enter, fill and verify a
prescription. In addition, they had a tour of the prescription compounding lab and learned to prepare some common formulations. Finally, students had the opportunity to receive and view the process of vaccine administration.
“We started the evening asking who thought pharmacists just put pills in a bottle”, Sue Kollhoff, owner and co-CEO of Kollhoff Pharmacy, said. “Then we demonstrated the number of steps involved in the prescription-filling process, and explained other services our pharmacy provides such as unit-dose drug packaging, medication review appointments, and custom prescription compounding.”
The Medical Explorers program began in 2016, as a way to increase exposure to occupations in the healthcare industry. “This is a great way for students to see the number of career opportunities available in Junction City,” Kollhoff said. “We are excited to educate our youth about the pharmacy profession.”
Kollhoff Pharmacy was opened in 2014 by pharmacists Sue and John Kollhoff. For more information visit www.kollhoffpharmacy.com.
Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Bob Ralph, Princeton Popcorn
By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.
100 to 1 return. Wow, that sounds like a remarkable return on investment. In this case, it doesn’t refer to a financial investment as much as it describes the process of growing a crop and multiplying the grain. Today we’ll learn about an innovative first-generation farmer who is finding his reward in multiplying his crop of popcorn. Thanks to Marlin Bates of K-State Research and Extension – Douglas County for this story idea.
Robert Ralph, also known as Farmer Bob, is the founder of Princeton Popcorn. Bob grew up in Overland Park when farm ground was still intermingled with the suburbs. “I was three or four years old and I remember petting cows through a barbed wire fence,” Bob said. That experience encouraged a lifelong interest in agriculture. He bought a small herd of cows and kept them with a friend outside of town.
After a few years, Bob bought some farmland of his own near Princeton, Kansas in Franklin County. The acreage had some timber, but no fences. “A friend of mine bulldozed a 30-foot path through the trees so I could build fence,” Bob said. “When I burned the brush pile and spread the ashes, I found that it enriched the soil.”
The concept of growing crops became exciting for him. He looked into the cost of seed and equipment and did a budget analysis. As a beginning farmer, with crop prices so low, he recognized that traditional row crops would not pay. Instead, he thought about alternative crops.
Bob bought a three-pound bag of popcorn off the shelf, fenced off a corner of his acreage, and planted it by hand. “A couple weeks later, I dug down and found a seed with a little root emerging from it,” Bob said. “It was like I found a million dollars. By the time that plant grew to 10 feet tall, I was really hooked.”
When he harvested the popcorn and tried popping it, it was initially too wet. When it dried and he popped it a couple of weeks later, it worked great. “I was elated,” Bob said. He gave away the popcorn for family and friends to try.
Since that time, he has expanded his popcorn acreage, purchased improved farm equipment, and experimented with various cooking oils and flavors. He remains fascinated with the concept of multiplying a crop. “You put one seed in the ground and get hundreds back. That’s better than Vegas,” he said with a smile.
Bob bought popcorn seed from Zangger Popcorn Hybrids in Nebraska. “I couldn’t have gotten luckier,” he said. “Josh Zangger came down and gave me lots of great advice.”
“I’ve learned so much, I got to thinking that I should document this,” Bob said. His videos as Farmer Bob on Facebook have generated hundreds of views. Using the community name, he named his company Princeton Popcorn. “It’s a vertically integrated business, from seed to store,” he said.
Farmer Bob is working with Balls Food Stores and others to get his popcorn on the market. In 2020, he anticipates that Princeton Popcorn will be on sale in 90 stores in the Kansas City area. Bob was also contacted by a couple of movie theater owners in Germany. They were looking for top quality popcorn to sell, and they found Farmer Bob. In 2020, Bob will be shipping Princeton Popcorn to their movie theaters in Germany.
It’s remarkable to see popcorn going direct to Germany from a rural community such as Princeton, population 277 people. Now, that’s rural.
For more information, see www.princetonpopcorn.com.
Can a first-generation farmer succeed? “This is America,” Bob said. “I would like to encourage kids to open up their minds. You need confidence, determination, and a willingness to fail, but you can try again. This is a land of opportunity.”
100 to 1. That’s not a financial return as much as it expresses the remarkable growth of a crop, from a single seed to thousands. We commend Farmer Bob Ralph for making a difference with innovation, entrepreneurship, and growth – a hundred-fold.
Audio and text files of Kansas Profiles are available at https://www.kansasprofile.com. For more information about the Huck Boyd Institute, interested persons can visit https://www.huckboydinstitute.
Column by:
Ron Wilson
Desire for extension of the runway at Freeman Field receives attention from the EDC
A need to extend the runway at the Junction City airport, Freeman Field, recently received discussion at an Economic Development Advisory Committee meeting. Chairman Mark Powers told JC Post there are enough times that there is a need for people visiting the community that want to land their planes here. “We don’t have a long enough runway for a lot of those so we’re just trying to accommodate the people that are wanting to use our airport.”
Powers is hopeful that there can be some potential grant funding for a project of that type. I’m hopeful that we can look at some funding through the FAA and national and state means.” Manhattan had received some FAA support to help with airport improvements. Powers noted, “Anymore that’s how airports get built.” There is no plan to use local property tax money.
MAC planning a spouse welcome
There will be a welcome event for military spouses from Fort Riley in the next few months. The Military Affairs Council Director for the Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce, Craig Bender, is planning the event.
He said it will probably be held in early January. “We’re going to bring out 30, 40, 50 spouses from Fort Riley, show them what Junction City has to offer, kind cater them, take care of them, and just show them a good time and what Junction City has to offer.”
United Way sponsored chili / cinnamon roll feed is today
There will be a cinnamon roll / chili feed for the United Way fundraising campaign Wednesday in the basement of the Central National Main Bank at 8th and Washington from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. You can enter through the northwest doors and proceed downstairs.
The cost will be $6 for a bowl and an additional $1 for seconds. The $6 includes a drink and cinnamon roll.
The cinnamon rolls are being donated by The Friendship House, and the beef by Blythe Family Farms. The food can be picked up to go as well. All proceeds will benefit the Junction City / Geary County United Way.
Sheriff’s Department works early morning accident
The Geary County Sheriff’s Department has reported that Deputies responded to K-18 Bypass mile marker 179 for an injury single vehicle accident.
Zethan L. Braddy, Manhattan, was traveling southbound in a 2005 Chevrolet Trailblazer when he fell asleep and went into a ditch. Braddy over corrected and the vehicle rolled. The vehicle was towed from the scene by Bud’s Wrecker.
The accident was reported at 5:46 a.m. Wednesday.
Wednesday weather forecast
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High
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59° | Sunny. Highs in the upper 50s. West winds up to 5 mph. |