LJWorld Reader blogs

Here are recent headlines about the military in Kansas:

Fort Riley ¢ 1st Infantry Division

(AP) Pentagon Can't Find Major Named in Suit: Military officials are investigating an Army specialist's allegations that he was harassed for being an atheist but said Saturday they have found no trace of the officer listed as a defendant in the soldier's lawsuit. Spc. Jeremy Hall and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation filed a lawsuit this past week against a Maj. Paul Welborne and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The suit, in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., alleges that Welborne threatened to file military charges against Hall and to block his reenlistment for trying to hold a meeting of atheists and non-Christians in Iraq. Hall is in Iraq with the 97th Military Police Battalion out of Fort Riley. He has been in Iraq since 2006, on his second tour. The Army is investigating Hall's allegations, said Lt. Col. James Hutton, a spokesman for multinational forces in Iraq, in a statement Saturday. However, Hutton added: "Several media reports list a person named Maj. Paul Welborne as having been involved in this situation. To date, we have not located any soldier by that name."

(49abcnews.com) Fort Riley opens its gates to community: Fort Riley opened its gates to thousands of families at its annual open house celebration. From firing automatic weapons, to climbing in and around tanks - there wasn't anything children and parents couldn't do to feel like they were living the everyday life of a Fort Riley solider. Of course there was no live ammo at the event! Chad Arcand, with the post's military transition team, brought his two sons to see the equipment. "It's a great thing for the kids to come out and see what moms and dads do out here," said Arcand.

Fort Leavenworth

(KC Star) In Iraq, a contractor for every soldier: Contractors pose an imperfect solution to the shortage. Critics say their presence masks the true level of commitment war requires. They complain that heavy dependence on contractors can lure away the military's most highly skilled professionals, can demoralize troops working for lower wages than their private counterparts, and can create any number of legal ambiguities that alienate the local population. In a paper written for the Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Deborah Kidwell concluded that reliance on contractors "has altered significantly, some would say irrevocably, the American way of war." "Chronic problems," wrote the military historian at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, "include fiscal abuses and nonperformance ... ineffective management (and) cost overruns." There is nothing new about contractors in war, and Kidwell describes them as indispensable. But she warns about the extent to which contractors are being used today and the resulting complications. For example, she said, "the armed services currently rely on the private sector to provide highly skilled labor, rather than growing and retaining their own capability."

(AP) Former Oklahoma Principal In Trouble In Texas:A school board in Texas has begun the process of firing a former Oklahoma City high school principal for allegedly not disclosing he was court-martialed and served time in a military prison. Michael J. Maples, a school principal in Victoria, Texas, also received a subpoena from a Victoria County (Texas) grand jury Thursday, but invoked his constitutional right not to give testimony that could be considered self-incriminating, said attorney Michael Gassaway, who is representing Maples in an Oklahoma City civil lawsuit. ... Maples was incarcerated in the disciplinary barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., from December 1990 to December 1991, according to Janet Wray, public information officer there. He was dismissed from the military on Feb. 17, 1992.