Fort Riley Senior Commander Brig. Gen. Donald MacWillie offers an update on the state of the 1st Infantry Division during the Friends of Fort Riley visit May 18. The post tour welcomed dozens of Manhattan community leaders and showcased many aspects ...
Gold Star Family member and Manhattan resident Doris Miller takes aim at a digital enemy as Kansas State University Football Coach Bill Snyder looks on during a tour of Fort Riley's Regional Training Campus May 18. The tour welcomed dozens of Manhatt...
Kansas State University Football Coach Bill Snyder, left, tours the main building of Fort Riley's Regional Training Campus during a Friends of Fort Riley visit May 18. The post tour welcomed dozens of Manhattan community leaders and showcased many as...
Members of the Friends of Fort Riley tour discuss the benefits of the M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle with 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division Soldiers Spc. Marco De La Rosa and Spc. Richard Andersen May 18. The post tour welcomed doz...
Gold Star Family member and Manhattan resident Doris Miller the benefits of the M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle with a 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division Soldier during the May 18 Friends of Fort Riley tour. The post tour welcomed doz...
FORT RILEY, Kan. -- Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Dodson and his wife Diane know a lot about Army life. More than three decades of service including several tours at Fort Riley with the 1st and 24th Infantry Divisions, have left them both with keen understanding of military life and the strength of the American Soldier.
Following years of sharing hundreds of "Army" stories with their Manhattan friends and neighbors, the Dodsons recently decided that the best way for them to help their fellow "Little Apple" community leaders better understand the "Army life" was to offer them an up-close look at the day-to-day life of an American Soldier. That up-close look came May 18 when the Dodsons joined about two dozen Manhattan residents for Friends of Fort Riley Day.
"This is such a unique life and we want to show them everything," Diane said.
The Friday afternoon tour began with a warm welcome from Fort Riley Senior Commander Brig. Gen. Donald MacWillie. The commander invited the community leaders to take the opportunity to get to know their Army and get to know their Soldiers.
"We can't wait to answer your questions and give you a sense of pride in what we do out here," he said. "We want you to leave here knowing that you have a great Army, great Soldiers and great neighbors here at Fort Riley."
The "friends" of Fort Riley group toured several locations throughout the post including the state-of-the-art Regional Training Campus. While at the campus, the visitors learned how the campus is leveraging technology to save money and saw this technology firsthand during an enemy engagement in the convoy simulator.
Following their trip into the Army's digital battleground, the group visited with dozens of 1st Infantry Division Soldiers as the young men from the 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team showed off their newest equipment -- the M1A2Sep V2 Abrams Tank and the M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
Gold Star Family member and Manhattan resident Doris Miller, whose father was killed in World War II, said she was happy to get a peek into the life that her father was once part of. Fellow Manhattanite Jan Wissman echoed her friend's pleasure at the insider perspective she gained during the tour as she flashed a photo of her father, a World War I veteran who once trained at Camp Funston.
Diane said there is still a belief among the general American public that the average civilian is not supposed to be on a military installation and she hoped that last week's tour helped correct that misconception among the Manhattan community members.
"I hope everyone now understands that the doors to Fort Riley are always open," she said.
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