Maj. Gen. Wayne W. Grigsby Jr., 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley commanding general, thanks Lefty Clark, a Navy veteran from Arizona, for his service Oct. 14 at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Grigsby and other leaders across th...
Maj. Gen. Wayne W. Grigsby Jr., 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley commanding general, speaks to a delegation representing the Fort Riley-Central Kansas Chapter of the Association of U.S. Army on Oct. 14 in Washington, D.C. Grigsby, other leaders a...
Command Sgt. Maj. Joseph Cornelison, 1st Inantry Division senior noncommissioned officer, shakes hands with and thanks a World War II veteran for his service Oct. 14 at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Cornelison was in Washington fo...
Retired Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, former 1st Infantry Division commander, former Army chief of staff and current president of the Association of the U.S. Army, speaks to a group representing the "Big Red One," Fort Riley and the Fort Riley-Central Kan...
WASHINGTON -- The message to the Army's top leaders was clear: the "Big Red One" is the premier warfighting division and Fort Riley is the best place to live, train, deploy from and come home to.
It was a declaration 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley and local community members carried to the nation's capital when they attended the 2015 Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting Oct. 12-14. Civilians who make up the Fort Riley-Central Kansas AUSA chapter stood alongside Maj. Gen. Wayne W. Grigsby Jr. and Command Sgt. Maj. Joseph Cornelison, the 1st Inf. Div. command team, and Col. Andrew Cole and Command Sgt. Maj. Jason Schmidt, the garrison command team, among other current and former division leaders, to talk about the subject they know best: the capabilities of the post and division and the strength of its surrounding communities.
"Everybody I see out walking around the hallways, that's all I'm talking about," Grigsby said of his message.
During his time in Washington, the commanding general talked with key leaders, including Eric Fanning, who was nominated as the next Secretary of the Army; Hon. Katherine Hammack, assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment; Gen. Daniel B. Allyn, Army vice chief of staff; Gen. Frank J. Grass, National Guard Bureau chief; and Lt. Gen. David Halverson, U.S. Army Installation Management Command, about how the 1st Inf. Div. and Fort Riley could support their respective missions.
Those missions boil down to one thing: building combat readiness, Gen. Mark A. Milley's, the Army chief of staff's, No. 1 priority.
The goal at the AUSA Annual Meeting was to let everyone know the division was, through its world-class training facilities and ranges, building combat readiness at Fort Riley and, through partnerships with the local communities and institutions like Kansas State University, the post was the best place to live and come home to, Grigsby said.
Col. John M. Cyrulik, 1st Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Inf. Div., commander, said Fort Riley should not be overlooked by Army officials as a place where joint forces, special operations forces and armored brigade combat teams -- "the entire flavor of units that exist in our Army" -- can train.
"We can provide a first-class and world-class training environment at Fort Riley for all of those customers," he added.
Cyrulik said the trip was a success as the delegation was surrounded by the Army's top leaders.
They "want to interact with those of us that are in the field, training and preparing for an unknown future and to win in a complex world."
Army leaders want to talk to those from the Big Red One, the colonel went on to say.
"We are a historic division, we are the nation's First Division," he said. "We know we are all looking at potential deployments in the future and so senior leaders want to engage us. They're interested to hear about our training and our readiness and our facilities at Fort Riley in particular.
While the attendees spent much of their time at the annual meeting speaking about the division's and post's capabilities, they also made an effort to reflect on the history and accomplishments of the Big Red One.
Early in the week, they lauded the 1st Inf. Div. and Fort Riley Ten-Miler Team, which finished the Oct. 11 race in seventh place. At an Oct. 13 reception, eight current and former division commanders and four current and former division senior noncommissioned officers gathered with the delegation to celebrate the Big Red One.
One of those former commanders was retired Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, former Army chief of staff and current AUSA president, who led the division from June 1988 to July 1989. Sullivan served in the Big Red One four times throughout his career.
"There's only one 1," he said to the crowd. "There's only one 1. There's only one Big Red One."
"The proudest moment of my life was becoming the CG of the 1st Infantry Division. I understand some may find that odd, but when you can say that you've been in the 1st Infantry Division, you are saying something. It is special."
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