I am going to Fort Riley (1-5 as a 13B). What should I expect for work/family life?

I’m in the Riley area now but assigned elsewhere. This is the second time we’ve been here and it’s one of the better places we have lived. I actually served in 1-5 for about 4 months before being pulled to Brigade Staff, and at the time, it was a fantastic unit. OPTEMPO is very high. Both brigades alternate deployment years and Division deploys as a TF headquarters about every other year so the time in the field was more than any other unit in which I served. Everyone in the Division does an exercise January and into February and your unit will go at least for two weeks out of every quarter. If gearing up for deployment, you will do an NTC rotation and you will sit in the field doing a lot of gunnery since crews are constantly switching right up to the deployment. The first time we were here I arrived in November before a deployment year and I was constantly in the field. I even had a leave cancelled once and I was even called to return to work in the middle of a deployment leave. (When I PCSed from Riley at that time I had so much use/lose on the books I took a two month PCS leave.) So being a family man start preparing your family for a lot of time you may be absent and some disruption as you get called in on a Saturday to download a CONEX or something.

There’s a lot for the family here. Great restaurants in Aggieville, sports for the kids, and Topeka and Wichita are short drives for day trips. KC is also within range for longer day trips or weekend stays.

Fort Riley wasn’t all that bad. It got a bad reputation from being a frat party on the weekends for the single soldiers because of the college town Manhattan Kansas.

There is plenty to do for you and your family on down time. Not sure how much time you will be spending in the field but be prepared I heard they are doing that more often. I also heard that some of the Big Red 1 has deployed. So again it’s just word of mouth.

Junction City has changed a lot has a much better reputation now too from what I have heard. There are several lakes and lots of things that you can do to enjoy family time.

Again good luck and thank you for your service.

It has been a very long time since I was stationed at Ft Riley, 36 years to be precise. I was in SVC 1/5 in Ammo PLAT as a truck driver.

It was definitely a slower pace of life. Milford Lake sticks out as the one big recreation area.

I hope your transition has gone well and you are settled in by now. Good Luck and thanks for your continued Service.