Fort Riley Included In Draw Down

Fort Riley is one of 10 U-S Army posts slated for a draw down–that was the word from the Chief of Staff of the Army, who held a news conference at the Pentagon Tuesday afternoon. Governor’s Military Council Executive Director John Armbrust of Manhattan tells KMAN while the news isn’t good, it shouldn’t mean a total loss for Fort Riley.

The Army is cutting a brigade at Fort Riley by September 2017. The 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Infantry Division will be inactivated as part of the Army’s plans to reduce its overall strength by 80,000 soldiers.

The Fort will lose about 1700 soldiers by the end of 2017 and the remaining 1850 of the 4th Brigade will be reassigned to other units on the Fort. Thus, while the 4th Brigade goes away, the Fort does not lose all 3500 soldiers of the Brigade.

Armbrust says at the end of the day, while disappointing, Fort Riley still is a very viable installation and certainly part of the Army’s future.

The cuts were planned before federal budget reductions were put in place in March. Some civilian jobs will be cut, too.