Here are recent headlines about the military in Kansas:Fort Riley ¢ 1st Infantry Division(AP) Fort Riley soldier from Alabama killed in Iraq: A 24-year-old Fort Riley soldier from Alabama was killed in Iraq when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device, the post said Thursday. Spc. Curtis E. Glawson Jr., of Daleville, died Tuesday in Baghdad, the 88th Fort Riley soldier killed in Iraq since the war started in March 2003. Glawson was a light-wheel vehicle mechanic assigned to 610th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. He entered the Army in 2000 and began serving with the 1st Infantry Division last year. He was on his first deployment to Iraq.[(Army Times) Unit uses border mission as training for Iraq:][2] A thousand miles south of here, soldiers from this post have trained for the Iraq war by helping the U.S. Border Patrol cover a wide swath of south Texas. By providing extra eyes and ears for agents, helicopter crews from Fort Riley and Fort Carson, Colo., were learning to operate in terrain close to what they will find in Iraq this summer. “They learned how to do things the right way and do it faster every day,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Stephen Waller of the Combat Aviation Brigade’s 1-6 Cavalry, which includes soldiers from both the Kansas and Colorado posts. “And you do it without bullets flying overhead. You can correct it without someone getting killed.” But with U.S. forces stretched across battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan, some question whether the military should be involved in such missions.Fort Leavenworth[(The Fort Leavenworth Lamp) British invasion — Officers from U.K. staff course train at BCTC:][3] Two weeks ago, the Kansas countryside was teeming with British soldiers conducting reconnaissance missions. “We used the local Kansas area and we planned to invade,” said Maj. Alastair Aitken of the British Army. “We had to tell lots of the locals that the Brits were not coming again. We caused a few alarm bells when people saw lots of people in foreign uniforms on the ground.” The 224 British officers came in peace – their mission at Fort Leavenworth was one of training. The newly promoted majors are current students from the United Kingdom Intermediate Command and Staff Course (Land), a direct equivalent to the Command and General Staff Officers Course taught at the Command and General Staff College.Kansas National Guard[(Insurance Journal) Kansas Army Guard trying to purchase life insurance:][4] After searching for nearly two years for a company that would offer life insurance to Kansas Army National Guard troops, the Guard is now considering three potential options. The Legislature is trying to correct an inequality in benefits paid to all of the beneficiaries of Kansas Guard troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The first three Kansas Guard members killed in those wars received a flat $250,000 payment, but lawmakers worried about the state liability if a large number of Guard members were killed, for example, in a plane crash. So they changed the cash payment to payment of insurance premiums. The alteration inadvertently reduced the amount the families of the last four Kansans killed received, and a bill currently under consideration is an effort to equalize the payments. The Guard wants to provide $250,000 in life insurance to its members, but the risk of covering people in a war zone has deterred insurance companies.Etc.[(Associated Press) Senators blast bill that includes BRAC funding:][5] Kansas Sens. Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts blasted congressional Democrats on Thursday for including military base construction projects in a bill that ties war spending to a pullout of combat troops from Iraq. The Senate Republicans offered their own nonbinding resolution that would discourage lawmakers from including items that “provoke veto threats from the president” in bills that fund the base realignment process. “These are important debates we should have, but as controversial as they are, attaching them to the supplemental bill with our BRAC funding could deny funding for our troops,” Roberts said in a statement. “Once again, political games are wreaking havoc with our national defense capabilities.” [2]: www.armytimes.com/news/2007/03/ap_border_training_070323/ [3]: www.ftleavenworthlamp.com/articles/2007/03/22/news/news1.txt [4]: www.insurancejournal.com/news/midwest/2007/03/23/78056.htm [5]: www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/mar/23/kansas_senators_blast_bill_includes_brac_funding/