Army budget experts will discuss the service’s fiscal 2024 budget request March 23 at a Coffee Series event hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army.

The in-person event at AUSA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, opens at 6:30 a.m. with registration, coffee and networking. The program is scheduled to begin at 7:15 a.m. It is free for military members, government employees and the media. All attendees are encouraged to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Masks are optional.

For more information or to register, click here. Online registration is open through 5 p.m. Eastern March 21. If there are still seats available, same-day registration will be accepted on a first come, first served basis beginning at 6:30 a.m. March 23.

The Army’s budget request for fiscal 2024 is $185.5 billion. It is part of a larger $842 billion defense budget request, which is $26 billion more than current fiscal 2023 levels and nearly $100 billion more than fiscal 2022, according to DoD.

The budget includes a 5.2% pay raise for service members and civilian employees—the largest raise in more than 20 years for uniformed troops and more than 40 years for the civilian workforce, according to DoD.

Army leaders are “very pleased” with the fiscal 2024 budget request, Army Undersecretary Gabe Camarillo said March 13 when the budget was unveiled. The budget will allow the Army to maintain its momentum on key modernization efforts while taking care of people and sustaining readiness, he said.

“People are our top priority and our greatest asset, so we’re able to fund significant investments to address our continued challenge faced across all of DoD to meet our recruiting goals and to help invest in attracting the nation’s best talent to the Army,” Camarillo said.

The budget has “significant emphasis” on improving soldier housing, access to child care and quality-of-life programs, he said. Key projects include five new barracks projects, worth $287.5 million, at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, and Natick Soldier Systems Center in Massachusetts. There also are plans for more than $200 million in future facilities investments at 10 child development centers and two youth centers, and two new housing projects, worth $177.3 million, at Kwajalein Atoll and Baumholder, Germany.

In terms of readiness, the budget funds 22 combat training center rotations, including a rotation in Hawaii and one in Alaska, training more than 140,000 soldiers, Camarillo said.

The Army also plans to spend more than $900 million on 115 exercises around the world in fiscal 2024, including 33 in the Indo-Pacific.

Money also will be dedicated to infrastructure projects, including work on seven National Guard Readiness Centers and five Army National Guard vehicle or aircraft maintenance facilities, and the Army plans to increase funding for its pre-positioned stocks around the world.

“We are very pleased with the FY24 budget submission,” Camarillo said. “It enables us to continue our momentum on our modernization programs, fully fund our efforts to address recruiting and to effectuate the National Defense Strategy.”