The Association of the U.S. Army has established three primary focus areas for its 2020 advocacy efforts: people, strength and growth.

Supporting soldiers from the Regular Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve, Department of the Army civilians, families, veterans and retirees, AUSA’s focus areas stress the importance of having on-time and sufficient budgets, providing programs and policies that support people, and continuing to grow the force while supporting soldiers and the employers of National Guard and Reserve soldiers.

Each of the advocacy areas contains many details. On putting people first, AUSA supports a continued call for competitive pay and benefits, affordable and quality health care, improvements in housing, and better experiences when moving to new duty stations. Child care, spouse employment and education for Army members and families are among the priorities.

To strengthen the Army, AUSA advocates for on-time appropriations and authorization legislation to provide for readiness, modernization and reform initiatives across the Total Army. Support for continued development of the Army’s Multi-Domain Operations concept and combat medical readiness are other areas of attention.

There are three parts to AUSA’s focus on growing the force. AUSA supports recruiting and marketing programs, including a program where Army veterans can help boost recruiting and retention efforts. AUSA also supports an increase in full-time support troops, which would benefit the Army National Guard, and strengthened support for Guard and Reserve soldiers through the Pentagon’s Employer Support for Guard and Reserve program.

AUSA developed the 2020 advocacy focus areas after discussions with national staff, senior fellows, region presidents and a region working group, and with feedback from the Army.

You can see the full list of focus areas here.