With a nod to the past and a focus on the future, the theme of the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2017 Annual Meeting and Exposition will be “Building Readiness: America’s Army from the Great War to Multi-Domain Battle.”

The meeting, which traditionally draws more than 26,000 people, will be Oct. 9–11 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The Army Ten-Miler, which AUSA has co-sponsored for 33 years, will be Oct. 8.

The Army-selected theme for the meeting recognizes that 2017 marks the 100th anniversary of the U.S. entry into World War I, which marked the birth of 41 U.S. Army divisions and made the U.S. a leading military power. It also recognizes the challenge for the future, symbolized by the Multi-Domain Battle operating concept that holds that future military power projection requires U.S. superiority across land, air, sea, space, cyberspace and the electromagnetic spectrum so adversaries cannot exploit capability gaps. The Army has begun testing the concept in training exercises.

Improving readiness has been the predominate theme coming from Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley since he became the Army’s 39th chief in August 2015. Testifying May 25 before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Milley said the downward trend in readiness has stopped “and the Army is making very, very slow and very steady progress in our core warfighting skills across the total force.”

To keep making progress while still operating with constrained funding, the Army is making unit manning the top budget priority while continuing to rein in modernization programs, Milley said. “Our modernization has been sacrificed for current readiness,” he said.

Topics for discussion forums during AUSA 2017 are beginning to take shape. A significant focus is expected on future warfare, especially looking at weapons and readiness levels needed for deterrence and, if needed, for fighting.

More details on the Annual Meeting and Exposition are available here:http://ausameetings.org/2017annualmeeting/