Fort Riley ? The Army got to do a little showing off of its past, present and future at an open house designed to give civilians a look into military life.

“My dad went to the Gulf War, so I will be able to find out what it was like for him,” said 20-year-old Shanna Worley of Salina, whose father is stationed at Fort Riley.

At the open house on Saturday, mounted troopers dressed as Civil War-era cavalry members brandished sabers and fired black-powder pistols as they thundered across the parade ground.

Soldiers loaded belts of ammunition blanks into machine guns, as visitors had the thrill of firing the weapons on full automatic.

Inside the post’s Expo Center, soldiers dressed in futuristic battle gear showed how the troops may one day wage war with computerized, air-conditioned uniforms.

Because of heightened security, special arrangements were made to allow civilians to park near Marshall Army Air Field, then ride shuttle buses to a series of displays and demonstrations at the base.

In the display of cavalry skills exhibited by the Fort Riley Honor Guard, troopers showed how mounted soldiers in the 19th century would pull their horses to the ground and take up firing positions behind them, using their mounts as cover.

The cavalry troopers also charged at each other, spearing a red-painted one-gallon milk container off each other’s sabers as they galloped past.

Ray Franz of Hillsboro was fascinated by the trio of soldiers of the future who demonstrated uniforms and equipment ranging from basic next-generation high-tech to something out of a science fiction epic.

“This is all very impressive,” said Franz, looking at “Land Warrior” Spc. 4 Chris Bashaw of Fort Benning, Ga.

The “Land Warrior” uniform will be issued to Army Rangers and other elite fighting units starting in 2004.

“I have two computers, and with this monitor that sits in front of my eye, I can see where all my buddies are,” Bashaw said. “I can talk to them directly, I can e-mail them, I can call in an air strike.”

Dan Harshman, 24, a former soldier who now works for the Army on such systems, said the “Objective Force” system which will have its own built-in heating and cooling mechanisms, as well as soft body armor and a some way to monitor the wearer’s physical status is expected to come on line between 2008 and 2010.

The final evolution on display Saturday was the “Future Warrior” concept, which is expected to incorporate all of those technologies into a lighter, more flexible, single-layer uniform.

A soldier using the Future Warrior system also will be able to take a picture of his surroundings, input it into his onboard computer and have it digitally transferred to the surface of the uniform a process know as “adaptive camouflage,” Harshman said.

That soldier also will fire a smaller, hand-held weapon loaded with “smart munitions,” he said, with a heat-seeking device in the tip of each bullet.