Editing Fort Riley (section)

===Interwar years===
Following the war, the War Department directed service schools be created for all arms of service. As a result, in 1919, the Mounted Service School, as it was known since 1907 and which had ceased to function during the war, was re-designated as the United States Army Cavalry School. The change was sudden and abrupt. The new school met the need for courses both broader in scope and more general in character. The cavalry unit at Camp Funston was the 2nd cavalry regiment, which provided the training and cavalry tactics to new cavalry officers.<ref name="History" />

The Cavalry School Hunt was officially organized in 1921 and provided a colorful spectacle on Sunday mornings. These activities gave rise to the perception of a special quality of life at Fort Riley that came to be known as the "Life of Riley." The technological advances demonstrated on the battlefields of Europe and World War I&nbsp;– most notable the tank and machine gun&nbsp;– raised questions in the interwar years over the future of cavalry. By the late 1920s, the Army's War Department had directed the development of a tank force. This was followed by activation of the 7th Cavalry Brigade (Mechanized) at [[Fort Knox]], Kentucky, in the fall of 1936 to make up the 2nd Regiment of this brigade. In October 1938, the 7th Cavalry Brigade (Mech.) marched from Fort Knox to Fort Riley and participated in large-scale combine maneuvers of horse and mechanized units. These exercises helped prove the effectiveness of mechanical doctrine.<ref name="History" />

====Marshall Army Airfield====
Initial experiments in directing artillery fire from an aircraft were undertaken at Fort Riley in 1912, with participants including [[H. H. Arnold]], who later became a significant figure in the United States Army Air Forces.<ref name="USAF Arnold">{{cite web |title=General Henry H. Arnold |website=US Air Force |url=https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/107811/henry-h-arnold/ |access-date=September 2, 2024 |archive-date=September 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240926195200/https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/107811/henry-h-arnold/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Davis 1997">{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Richard |title=HAP: Henry H. Arnold, Military Aviator |publisher=Department of the Air Force |year=1997 |isbn=0-16-049071-5 |pages=4–5 |url=https://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/27/2001329810/-1/-1/0/AFD-100927-038.pdf |access-date=September 2, 2024 |archive-date=December 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215053136/https://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/27/2001329810/-1/-1/0/AFD-100927-038.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1921, the Smoky Hill Flats portion of the fort was designated as the location for a new airfield, initially referred to as Fort Riley Flying Field. The new airfield commenced operations in August of that year and served as the base for the 16th Observation Squadron. Built primarily as a refueling station for cross-country flights, the airfield featured metal hangars, underground fuel storage tanks, and lighting for night operations. Following the completion of the facility in 1923, the airfield was renamed Marshall Army Airfield in honor of Brigadier General [[Francis Marshall (United States Army officer)|Francis C. Marshall]], who was killed in a plane crash the year before. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Marshall Army Airfield's primary role was to support aircraft engaged in observation and photography during tactical exercises at Fort Riley, as well as to host aerial demonstrations, with no known aircraft training activities occurring during this period.<ref name="Story 2023 p. 51">{{cite book |last1=Story |first1=Madison |title=Fort Riley Firing Ranges and Military Training Lands: A History and Analysis |date=2023 |publisher=US Army Engineer Research and Development Center |page=51 |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/trecms/pdf/AD1213527.pdf |access-date=September 2, 2024 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240902053612/https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/trecms/pdf/AD1213527.pdf |archive-date=September 2, 2024 }}</ref>