AUSA 2015 Winter Symposium will return to Huntsville, Ala.

AUSA 2015 Winter Symposium will return to Huntsville, Ala.

Association of the United States Army (AUSA) officials announced March 27 that its 2015 Winter Symposium and Exposition will be held in Huntsville, Ala., at the Von Braun Center from March 31 to April 2, 2015. Huntsville was the site of this year’s Winter Symposium that was supported by U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC). The 2014 event in Huntsville set an Association symposium attendance record with over 6,400 attendees.   U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) will take the leading role in the Army’s participation in the 2015 AUSA Institute of Land Warfare professional development forum. Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, USA, Ret., president of the Association of the United States Army, said, “Locating our 2015 symposium  back  in Huntsville, Alabama, with its close proximity to Army Material Command and other major command and agency headquarters will allow us to continue maximizing military, civilian and industry attendance during this period of constrained budgets and limited resources.” Adding, “This will be a superb opportunity for their professional development while remaining very cost effective.”Known worldwide as “Rocket City,” Huntsville is not only the home of AMC , but is also the headquarters of the Army Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Command; Army Space and Missile Defense Command; Army Security Assistance Command; Army Contracting Command; U.S. Missile Defense Agency;  Defense Acquisition University, NASA – Marshall Space Flight Center and many other defense and national security agencies. Moving to Huntsville in February 2014, the AUSA symposium’s attendance at the event was four times larger than the 2013 symposium held in Fort Lauderdale. Association officials said that “the outstanding popularity of the event in Huntsville convinced AUSA that this location offered a unique opportunity to tell the ‘Army Story’ to a much larger audience.”   “Huntsville is the ideal location for this AUSA and Army event.  It is a win, win, win, win, win situation.  The enthusiasm from the first time has been off the charts enabling AUSA to provide an outstanding quality platform,” Lt. Gen. Roger G. Thompson Jr., USA, Ret., Association vice president for membership and meetings.