Burial space running out at Fort Riley cemetery

Here are recent headlines about the military in Kansas:Fort Riley ¢ 1st Infantry Division(49abcnews.com) Fort Riley cemetery space limited; new burial ground to be built: Fort Riley officials say, for now, there’s nothing they can do about it. At the beginning of the month they had 12 spots available. Now they’re down to five. Fort Riley officials expect those to fill up by the end of July. There is a solution. But, we found, for a while, the post will have to turn military families away. “You want to honor the veterans, I’ll be a veteran someday,” Garrison Commander Col. Ty Smith said. “Of course you want to honor the veterans and their families. They deserve every consideration. So it’s tough emotionally, it’s very tough.” The post cemetery has been in existence since the Fort opened in the 1800’s. It’s estimated that 5,000 military and their family members are buried here.(Military Family Network) Defense Department Helps Eagle Soar Off Endangered List: After almost disappearing from the American scene, the bald eagle’s comeback is complete, thanks in part to the Defense Department. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and other officials made the announcement today at a ceremonial event held at the Jefferson Memorial here. “Today, I am proud to announce the eagle has returned,” Kempthorne said. “Based on its dramatic recovery, it is my honor to announce the Department of the Interior’s decision to remove the American bald eagle from the endangered species list.” “The Department of Defense spends about half a billion dollars on endangered species,” said Alex Beehler, deputy undersecretary of Defense for environment, safety, and occupational health.The Defense Department and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers collectively manage lands that host more than 440 bald eagle nests, and military installations have continued to work to help preserve the habitats of endangered species. Extensive monitoring programs are in place for threatened and endangered birds at military installations including Fort Riley, Kansas, Marine Corp Base Hawaii, and bases in San Diego. Fort Leavenworth(Press Release) CGSCF Board of Trustees Celebrate Foundation Growth, Continued Success in 2007: The board of trustees of the Command and General Staff College Foundation (CGSCF) recently conducted their annual board meeting in Fort Leavenworth’s Lewis and Clark Center, the new facility built to house the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. In addition to admiring and marveling at the scale of the new building’s architecture, design and technology, the board members had the opportunity to recognize the Foundation’s success in 2007.(WIBW) American, British Troops Train in Kansas: Multiple militaries are coming together right here in Kansas. It’s happening at Fort Leavenworth. What is bringing foreign soldiers to the sunflower state? I’s all about training and education. Soldiers of many nationalities are here to learn from each other — and come together for the global good. They hold mock news conferences at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth — designed to make soldiers better communicators.Kansas National Guard(All America Patriots) Sen. Webb & Gov. Sebelius Call for More Support of Military, National Guard Units Serving Overseas: Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) and Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS) today said that “supporting our troops” means establishing more sustainable deployment lengths and adequate “dwell” time between deployments for our nation’s military units serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both Webb and Sebelius have seen the extent to which erratic deployment rotations push service members to the limits of their endurance and cause significant strains at home. After the July 4th recess, Senator Webb will introduce an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, requiring that active duty troops have at least the same time at home as the length of their previous tour of duty overseas. … Governor Sebelius experienced the strain of extended troop deployments first-hand when tornadoes wiped out the small town of Greensburg, Kansas, in May. Roughly 60 percent of the Kansas National Guard’s equipment had been shipped overseas, compromising the state’s long-term ability to respond adequately to natural disasters of this magnitude.(Hutch News) Welcome home, soldiers: A welcome home ceremony will be held at 10:30 a.m. today at the Hutchinson Armory, 1111 North Severance, for the approximately 80 soldiers of the 635th Regional Support Group, Kansas National Guard. The group is returning home after a yearlong deployment to Kuwait. The group’s mission was to provide logistics operations support for maintenance, transportation, supplies, equipment and manpower.