Military Matters
Kansas Guard troops headed to Kosovo
Posted Friday, April 6, 2007
Here are recent headlines about the military in Kansas:
Kansas National Guard
(AP) Kansas Guard unit to redeploy to Kosovo: A Kansas National Guard unit is making its second deployment to Kosovo in the past four years, taking another turn at keeping the peace in the Balkans region. Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting said Thursday that about 200 soldiers of the headquarters unit of the 35th Division, based at Fort Leavenworth, will deploy later this year to become the headquarters unit for a multinational force. Soldiers will leave for Camp Atterbury, Ind., in July and for Kosovo in the fall. The division has soldiers from Kansas, Missouri and Illinois. It is the third significant recent deployment for the division, including the first trip to Kosovo in 2003, Bunting said. "Domestically, they served as the headquarters down in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina, where they managed more than 15,000 soldiers and airmen from a number of National Guard units," Bunting said. During their upcoming year in Kosovo, the division's soldiers will become part of Balkans Nine, a 1,500-member task force from the Army, Army Reserve and National Guard. Other Kansas units will continue to train and head to Iraq in the coming months.
Fort Leavenworth
(The Barre Montpelier Times Argus) Counterinsurgency expert argues U.S. must stay in Iraq: A lieutenant colonel who had a key role in America's new counter-insurgency doctrine says Americans must accept greater risks and greater losses in Iraq in order to win the war. Lt. Col. John Nagl also says the war has to be won more with political than military action, and leaving early would cause "horrific" consequences. "We have not, in my eyes, done as good a job as we should of explaining to the American people this war we're fighting, our strategy for winning, the nature of the enemy we face, the benefits of victory or the costs of defeat," he said. Nagl is managing editor of the approximately 300-page counter-insurgency doctrine, published in December (at Fort Leavenworth) and copy edited by David Petraeus, the four-star general who recently took command of U.S. military operations in Iraq.
Fort Riley * 1st Infantry Division
(AP) Fort Riley expansion to bring economic growth: FORT RILEY, Kan. - While most of the military's focus recently has been on the surge of soldiers going to war in Iraq, Kansas is witnessing its own surge. Compelled by a Pentagon decision in 2005 to bring the 1st Infantry Division back to its traditional home at Fort Riley from Germany, surrounding communities have been adjusting to an influx of thousands of new soldiers and their families. The first wave came in 2006, and another one is approaching. Results from the efforts of civilian and military officials in Kansas to find enough housing for the soldiers have caught the Pentagon's attention. "The locals have responded like no others I've seen," said William Armbruster, deputy assistant Army secretary for privatization and partnerships. "You guys have stepped up to the plate and are making a difference. Everybody seems to be in synch."
(Defense Industry Daily) Fort Riley Receives Combat Aviation Construction Funds: Burns & McDonnell in Kansas City, MO received a delivery order amount of $94.4 million as part of a $150 million firm-fixed-price contract for construction of an airfield runway, pavements, and southside facilities at Fort Riley, KS. Work is expected to be complete by Feb. 15, 2009. Bids were solicited via the World Wide Web on Aug. 17, 2006, and 5 bids were received by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City, MO.
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