Amid shutdown, the Army will do its best to talk transformation, counter

The Army’s largest professional gathering kicks off Monday, traditionally a venue for the service to make big organizational announcements, like the advent of the black uniform beret or the launch of the Multi-Domain Operations concept . But with the government shut down and the Pentagon reining in public appearances by uniformed and civilian officials, it’s an open question how much the service will be able to participate in this year’s edition of the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference.

As of Tuesday, an AUSA spokesman told Defense One , impact to Army participation will be “minimal.” [Editor’s note: CNN reported Thursday evening that AUSA has donated $1 million to enable the attendance of senior leaders whose travel and per diem funding is frozen by the shutdow