Kansas should be proud of the support it provides for military bases and personnel in the state.

There was mostly good news for Kansas last week when the Pentagon released its plans to reconfigure military bases across the country.

While many states are marshaling their forces to try to save military bases marked for closure, Kansas is preparing to welcome the headquarters of the “Big Red One,” Army’s 1st Infantry Division, back to Fort Riley. The move is expected to add 2,400 military jobs and 440 civilian jobs in the state.

Fort Riley was the home of the Big Red One for about 40 years before the headquarters was moved to Germany in 1995. Bringing the headquarters back to Fort Riley is a boon for the Junction City area as well as the state.

Other gains for Kansas included an increase of 211 military personnel at Fort Leavenworth and 247 military and civilian jobs at Forbes Field in Topeka. McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita will gain 677 military personnel and lose 155 civilian jobs. The 184th Air Refueling Wing, based at McConnell, will fly fewer refueling missions while taking on more intelligence and homeland security jobs. The Kansas National Guard’s 22nd Air Refueling Wing at McConnell will grow from 31 tankers to 49 tankers.

The biggest loss will be in southeast Kansas where the Kansas Army Ammunition Plant in Parsons will be closed. The plant employs 167 people.

Reports on military base closings always are greeted with a combination of dread and enthusiasm. The federal money that comes into states and individual communities that play host to military installations is a significant economic boon.

Maintaining or expanding military bases in a state is a major emphasis for any congressional delegation, and the good news Kansas received in the latest base closing report is a credit to our senators and representatives. Kansas Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt also pointed out during a recent visit to the Journal-World that several actions in this year’s Kansas Legislature also “put a military-friendly face on the state.”

Among those moves was the approval of a $125,000 death benefit to the family of any Kansas National Guard member killed while on active duty. Starting July 1, Kansas residents whose parents or spouses were killed in action, are missing or are prisoners of war will be eligible to attend any public college or university tuition-free. Another bill signed by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius would ensure that military families will have no interruption in their health insurance coverage when soldiers return from active duty.

None of these benefits will be a huge windfall, but, as a package, they show the state’s support for soldiers and their families. Those actions may or may not have had an impact on federal military base decisions, but either way, they are the right thing for Kansas to do for its military personnel.