Military Matters
Civil rights pioneer honored at Fort Leavenworth
Posted Monday, April 2, 2007
Here are recent headlines about the military in Kansas:
Fort Leavenworth
(AP) First black West Point graduate honored with bust at Fort Leavenworth: Henry O. Flipper stoically endured hate and harassment to become the first black graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, only to be drummed out of the Army after white officers accused him of embezzlement. He didn't see his name cleared in his lifetime, but the Army took another step in honoring his legacy Friday with the dedication of a bust of him at the Buffalo Soldier Monument at Fort Leavenworth.
(AP) Guantamano detainees may be moved to Leavenworth: A member of the House Armed Services Committee warns that closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility could lead to imprisoning terrorists at Fort Leavenworth. California Republican Duncan Hunter cited an internal memo that shows a list of U.S. installations that he says are among the locations displaced Guantanamo detainees might be transferred. Fort Leavenworth is on the list. Thursday Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Congress and the White House should work to allow the U.S. to imprison some of the more dangerous Guantanamo Bay detainees elsewhere so the facility can be closed. A congressional aide told The Associated Press Thursday night that the list under discussion was simply an older list of bases with prisons. The U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth dates to 1875, and is the Defense Department's only maximum security prison.
Fort Riley * 1st Infantry Division
(Montgomery Advertiser) Soldier killed in Iraq buried: rmy Sgt. Curtis E. Glawson Jr., who died in a March 20 bomb blast in Iraq, was laid to rest Saturday with military honors. Mourners gathered at the Daleville Christian Fellowship for the service. Curtis Glawson Sr. said he's proud of his son's sacrifice. "No father could be more proud. He sacrificed his life, he paid the ultimate price," Glawson said. Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals were presented at the service in the soldier's honor. Glawson, 24, was assigned to the 610th Brigade Support Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division based in Fort Riley, Kan.
(Topeka Capital-Journal) Fort Riley soldiers first part of Iraq surge: They are at the tip of the spear in a new plan to quell violence in Baghdad, Iraq. Roughly 3,400 soldiers from Fort Riley comprise one of two brigade combat teams that were the first deployed as part of a planned troop surge in one of Iraq's most complex cities. Speaking Friday from southern Baghdad, Maj. Kirk Luedeke, public affairs officer for the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, said U.S. troops and Iraqi Security Forces were at a key turning point. "We're in a Normandy D-Day-like situation as it applies to modern times and the war on terror," Luedeke said. "This is a critical juncture in this entire operation." The brigade is part of a large-scale plan designed by Gen. David Petraeus, commander of Multi-National Force Iraq, to put soldiers from five brigade combat teams on the streets and in neighborhoods in Iraq.
(Manhattan Mercury) Iraqis seen as stronger: FORT RILEY - Less than a year into the U.S. Army's beefed-up military transition team program in Iraq, steady progress is being made in training the Iraqis to defend their own country, according to the commander of the Iraq Assistance Group. Brig. Gen. Dana Pittard, who also serves as assistant division commander for maneuver in the 1st Infantry Division, reports that the number of divisions within the Iraqi army has significantly increased in the past two years. "When I left Iraq on my last tour as a brigade commander in 2005 there were two kind of struggling Iraqi army divisions," Pittard said during a press conference at Fort Riley Friday. "Now we have 10 capable Iraqi army divisions with each division averaging 8,000 to 10,000 personnel. That is due to the inventive military transition teams that have been with the Iraqi security forces."
Kansas National Guard
(49abcnews) Kansas Air Guardsmen headed south to the border: More Kansas Guardsmen will head south to help secure our nation's borders. Saturday, 40 Kansas Air National Guard airmen from the 190th Air Refueling Wing will be deployed for Operation Jump Start. Over the next two weeks, the Kansas airmen will build fences and roads and install lighting in Yuma, Arizona. This is the third Kansas National Guard deployment to secure the border between the United States and Mexico.
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