ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

Registration is now open for the Association of the U.S. Army’s Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville, Alabama.

The three-day event will take place March 24–26 at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, home to Redstone Arsenal and U.S. Army Materiel Command.

This year’s theme is “Delivering Victory: Leveraging the Army’s Industrial Might,” and the symposium will focus on the Army’s continuous transformation as the force pushes to adapt and prepare for a complex future battlefield.

The Association of the U.S. Army’s 2025 Global Force Symposium and Exposition brought together more than 6,500 attendees to Huntsville, Alabama, for three days of key updates from senior Army leaders, professional development and networking.

Soldiers’ ingenuity and curiosity are informing and driving Army transformation efforts, the commander of Army Futures Command said.

Through the Army’s transforming in contact initiative, “we’ve put kit in the hands of soldiers, and [we’re] getting user feedback,” Gen. James Rainey said.

“The closer you are to getting shot at, the better you are at innovating,” he said. The good news is today’s young soldiers are “phenomenally adept” at innovating. “It’s inherent,” Rainey said.

Scaling capabilities quickly requires an “iterative, agile” approach in close partnership with industry, a senior Army officer said.

During a panel discussion on continuous transformation and scaling change at speed, Brig. Gen. Cain Baker, director of the Future Vertical Lift Cross-Functional Team, said that continuous transformation can only work in partnership with industry.

Army acquisition must transform with the rest of the force to provide soldiers with the capabilities they need for the next fight, a senior Army leader said.

“I don’t think I have to tell you we’re living in kind of interesting times right now,” said Patrick Mason, the senior official performing the duties of the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology.

In its quest to transform, the Army is pledging to be a better customer as it looks to industry for the latest technology and equipment.

Amid the fastest transformation the Army has ever seen, the service must make sure the institutional force is moving forward alongside its fighting formations, said Maj. Gen. Christopher Beck, commanding general of the Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence.

Speaking on a panel during the Association of the U.S. Army’s Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville, Alabama, titled “Institutional Training and Transformation,” Beck said that transformation is a team sport.

Enlisted soldiers should be promoted based on how well they know their jobs, said Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer, who is driving an initiative to make that happen.

“The No. 1 thing we should be basing off whether or not you’re ready to be promoted is how good you are at your current job,” Weimer said March 26 during a fireside chat at the Association of the U.S. Army's Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville, Alabama. “Call me crazy, but that’s not where we're at right now.”

Mismatched helmets, uniforms and night-vision goggles characterize the Army’s nine-man infantry squads, and the service wants to do something about it—and fast.

“We recognize the squad is the most complex and variable weapon system on the battlefield,” said Brig. Gen. Phillip Kiniery, director of the Soldier Lethality Cross-Functional Team and commandant of the U.S. Army Infantry School.

Futuristic scenarios involving telemaintenance, advanced manufacturing and the ingenuity of the American soldier are “exploding” across the Army, said Lt. Gen. Chris Mohan, deputy commanding general and acting commander of Army Materiel Command.

In remarks March 26 at the Association of the U.S. Army's Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville, Alabama, Mohan called on industry to help the Army by working together to meet the rapid innovation taking place across the sustainment enterprise.