ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

The housing bureau for the 2019 Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting and Exposition opens May 7 at noon Eastern.

The 2019 meeting will be held Oct. 14–16 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., and is expected to draw about 30,000 people.

Hotel rooms may be booked using this website, http://ausameetings.org/2019annualmeeting/hotel-travel/housing/, or by calling a customer service center.  

The Association of the United States Army’s 2018 Annual Meeting and Exposition ranks as the third largest trade show and convention on a list of the Top 100 Events in Washington, D.C., in 2018.

AUSA is the only military association to be mentioned on Washington’s Top 100 list that covers galas, political events, parades and trade shows. The annual list is created by BizBash, a resource for event and meeting professionals.

The Army is engaged in a battle for talent.

That’s what members of a personnel readiness and modernization panel said at AUSA’s Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C. Seven participants, including U.S. Military Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Darryl A. Williams, appeared on the panel on the closing day of the meeting.

Noting that the Army’s greatest asset is its people, the service must be “ready today, more lethal tomorrow through talent management,” said Lt. Gen. Thomas C. Seamands, deputy Army chief of staff for personnel.

Twelve finalists have been selected in the Army’s XTechSearch competition after presentations were made during the Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C.

The Expeditionary Technology Search, shortened to XTechSearch, drew more than 300 entrants, with 25 offered the opportunity to appear at Innovator’s Corner on the AUSA 2018 exhibit floor. A dozen were selected for the final round.

Opposing forces at the Army’s combat training centers have been outfitted over the past three years to replicate the threat of a near-peer adversary, and the Army is looking at how to bring that realistic opponent to home-station training.

The 2018 Annual Meeting and Exposition of the Association of the U.S. Army, an event that drew more than 31,000 people, concluded Oct. 10 with the awarding of the association’s highest honor to ABC News global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz for telling the American people about the strength, will and sacrifice of U.S. soldiers and their families.

According to Col. John Rafferty, director of Long-Range Precision Fires (LRPF) Cross-Functional Team (CFT), being the Army’s No. 1 priority for modernization places the CFT in an interesting situation. Briefing with team members at today’s Warriors Corner at the AUSA Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C., Rafferty noted the prioritization spotlight “also comes with the recognition that tough choices were made across the Army.”

In the aftermath of several recent decisions and actions, today’s Future Vertical Lift (FVL) Cross-Functional Team (CFT) briefing at Warriors Corner at the AUSA Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C., focused on recent advancement and activity areas within the FVL arena.

Civilians who work for the Army provide vital cohesion for the service, Army Secretary Mark T. Esper said Oct. 10.

“You are the continuity for the force,” Esper told civilian employees at a luncheon on the final day of the Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C. “This is how we will sustain reforms into the future.”

Civilians who remain in their jobs while military colleagues rotate in and out maintain key institutional knowledge, Esper indicated. “Department of the Army civilians will carry the ball forward,” he said.

The capability of the U.S. Army in Europe is vital in demonstrating the U.S. commitment to maintaining peace and security that endured through the Cold War has been revitalized. On Oct. 10, in the Warrior’s Corner presentation, “Modernizing the Tip of the Spear: A Lethal Modern Force, Ready for Dynamic Threats,” a panel of Army leaders who have spent the past year training and leading forces in Europe, described how they were meeting the challenges posed by being ready to counter a near-peer competitor.