OLATHE, Kan. -- Leaders from the 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley joined representatives from the division's partner communities surrounding the post at the 2017 Flint Hills Regional Leaders Retreat.
Brig. Gen. Patrick Frank, 1st Inf. Div. and Fort Riley acting senior commander, spoke Jan. 20 on the first day of the two-day retreat held at the Olathe Conference Center.
"I'm a 'Big Red One' Soldier, and one that is proud to be a member of your community," Frank said. "My wife and I absolutely love the area."
Frank spoke to the group about Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin, 1st Inf. Div. and Fort Riley commanding general, who took command of the Big Red One shortly before the headquarters' deployment to Iraq and Kuwait last fall. He said Martin, who before this assignment served as commander of the National Training Center and Fort Irwin, California, is the Army's best trainer.
"He's currently leading the fight in Mosul, Iraq, with our Iraqi partners as they retake that city frim ISLI," the acting senior commander said. "The unique thing about Gen. Martin as our commanding general is he's deploying in his first year. Usually CGs deploy in their second year, and they come back and they leave. You're going to have Gen. Martin come back here, who knows this area.
"This is the right leader to come back, spend an entire year with you focused on ensuring this division is cemented in the Flint Hills, and we continue to improve on the margins on how we operate as a division inside your community."
Frank then spoke about the division's Soldiers deployed to locations worldwide including Afghanistan and South Korea. He explained how the Army is starting to move from a focus on counterinsurgency to preparing to take on near-peer competitors.
The first step to preparing 1st Inf. Div. Soldiers for that fight takes place in the Flint Hills of Kansas.
"There is no better home station training area in the U.S. Army than Fort Riley," Frank said. "I've been to many of these divisional posts -- I know what I'm talking about. To train an armored combat team, Fort Riley's the place to do it."
Fort Riley is a small town between Junction City and Manhattan, Frank said, and the person who runs that city is Col. John Lawrence, garrison commander.
"We're trying to bring Army conferences to Fort Riley," Lawrence said. "There's a two-fold message in that. One is to highlight our training and our post. The next is to highlight the Flint Hills region."
Lawrence spoke about housing on post and in the Flint Hills communities.
"We know being a part of the community is important to our Soldiers," he said. "It keeps our Soldiers here as they retire, as they transition."
Social Sharing