Fort Riley

Posted on Wed, Dec. 19, 2007 10:15

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Engineering battalion to be based at Fort Riley

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON More than 1,300 additional troops will be calling Fort Riley home as part of the 1st Infantry Division’s relocation to the Kansas Army post.

The post had expected to grow to more than 18,000 troops by 2013, but Sen. Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican, said Wednesday that a new engineering battalion would boost that number.

“The big story is that this is a final statement that the Big Red One is in the process of moving from Germany, and it will be here as we grow the Army and protect national security,” Roberts said.

The engineering battalion will maintain equipment that returns from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The 1st Infantry Division had been at Fort Riley for about 40 years, but its headquarters moved to Germany in 1995 before returning to Kansas last year as part of the national military base realignment process.

Nearly the entire division will be at Fort Riley, except for the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, which is stationed at Fort Hood, Texas.

The return of the Big Red One is expected to double the post’s military population.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said support from the local community played a key role in the decision to place the additional troops in Kansas.

Sebelius said Defense Department officials also planned to send 274 military police to Fort Leavenworth as part of the Grow the Force initiative.