Representatives from Fort Riley directorates spoke to the members of the 2019 Leadership Manhattan class at the Training Support Center March 7.
Col. Curtis Taylor, 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley chief of staff, welcomed the members and spoke to them about what makes American Soldiers special. To do that, he told the story of Pvt. Ross McGinnis, the Soldier who sacrificed himself to save the other men in the Humvee when he sat down on a grenade that was thrown into the vehicle while on patrol in Baghdad, Iraq, in December 2006.
"For that, Ross McGinnis was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor," he said. "He remains one of our heroes here at the 'Big Red One' today. A 19-year-old, American kid, no different from any other American kid you see today. So, if anybody talks about how the youth today are not as heroic or as great as other generations, I tell them, you need to see the American Soldier because I think we've got heroes like Ross McGinnis throughout our ranks."
Taylor went on to talk about the leadership of Fort Riley and their commitment to readiness.
Timothy Livsey, U.S. Army Garrison Fort Riley deputy commander, spoke about the economic impact Fort Riley has on the Flint Hills region before talking about community partnerships that Fort Riley has with various organizations on and off post.
"This is what makes this place very different," he said. "Because everybody works together."
David Roudybush, Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation director, went over the programs that fall under the directorate and how they contribute to Fort Riley and the surrounding communities.
"I looked at sort of where all of you were really quick just to see where the businesses were, that were in here," he said. "Because in some way, we impact, all of you. Family and MWR does. And, in some way, you impact what it is that we do."
Crystal Bryant-Kearns from USO Pathfinder gave a brief presentation on what the program does for Soldiers and their families.
"We work with transitioning service members who are leaving the military going into their future community," she said. "But we also work with spouses no matter where they are in transition. So, if you have a new service member moving to Fort Riley bringing his spouse along, we're going to work with the spouse. But he is set. He's in the military, he has a steady job, he has housing, he has legal services, all provided by the Army, she does not and the spouse is forgotten. They have to change their job every three years.
"It's hard to find a job because sometimes when they learn you're military, they don't want to invest in you," she said. "And so, we serve them at any point in transition but service members we only serve 12 months pre-transition to 12 months post-transition and that's from the military to civilian."
Mitch Foley, Fort Riley Soldier for Life - Transition Assistance Program transition services manager, closed out the session by briefly talking about what SFL-TAP does for Soldiers who are transitioning out of the military. This includes helping them find employers looking for people with the kinds of skills Soldiers have because the Soldier might have been trained in a certain area but that training did not give the Soldier certificates.
"So, a truck driver, a driver for 20 years in the Army," he said "He is driving a truck the entire time, he goes to the civilian world, he doesn't even have a CDL so he can't drive. MPs, they go through their own academy, but there's no state or county or any other police force that will recognize that academy. They'll still make them go through theirs. So they're coming out, they can do the job, but they're not licensed or accredited to do it. So, ... I'm trying to fix that breakage within that link."
Social Sharing