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K-State Today

June 18, 2018

KEEP tour hosted for Fort Riley transitional soldiers and family members

Submitted by Communications and Marketing

Kansas State University and community partners hosted the inaugural Fort Riley Kansas Employment Exploration Program, or KEEP, tour of Manhattan for transitional soldiers and family members on May 15. The Fort Riley Soldier for Life office is responsible for facilitating the exit of soldiers as they return to civilian life.

KEEP Veterans Here Tour is an initiative through the Soldier for Life office at Fort Riley. The Manhattan tour had the most participants of the three KEEP tours conducted across Kansas within the past nine months.

The tour consisted of a welcome on the K-State campus and a bus tour of the outlay of the city of Manhattan while visiting three major employers in the community. Company site visits were conducted at Florence Corp, CivicPlus and Parker Hannifin. A networking lunch was held at the Flint Hills Discovery Center.

The event was sponsored in part by the city of Manhattan, Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, Manhattan Area Technical College Foundation, KansasWorks, Cox Bros. BBQ, Radina's and Kansas State University.

There was tremendous community support and sponsorship to make this event a success. Participants expressed appreciation for the outreach and the need for more events to learn about the professional and educational opportunities available in the Manhattan area. 

"I greatly appreciate the support and efforts in making this an outstanding event and opportunity not only for our soldiers and their families, but for all of you who participated and our community," one soldier stated. "I hope everyone was able to take something away from this (I know our attendees did) as this will continue to build and strengthen our relationships. I look forward to our future opportunities…This is one of the reasons my family and I chose to stay here after I retire from the Army."