Oct 10, 2023 Army’s H2F program coming to a base near you
The Center for Initial Military Training under Training and Doctrine Command will send a group of human performance specialists from the Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) program to divisions that can dedicate at least a five-soldier team to learning the essentials.
That’s the newest approach to filling ranks across the Army with the practices of the H2F program as the service pushes equipment and training staff to 110 active duty brigades.
A recent story from DefenseNews.com detailed how the H2F program is expanding. Below is an excerpt from the DefenseNews.com story.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George announced in September at Fort Moore, Georgia, that he will seek to double funding for the program and bump up the annual brigade goal from 10 to 15.
It’s no small effort. The chief noted it will be the largest personnel contract in Training and Doctrine Command history, hiring 1,041 strength coaches and 413 athletic trainers, among other staff.
Maj. Gen. John Kline spoke with Army Times ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference to share updates on the program and what’s headed to soldiers in the coming months. Developments include:
- H2F will now oversee the Army’s Pregnancy Postpartum Physical Training program, also known as P3T.
- The Army Physical Fitness School has been renamed the Holistic Health and Fitness Academy.
- A 12-week special qualification identifier course in H2F is awaiting approval.
- A two-week online additional skill identifier course is awaiting approval.
- The Army selected CoachMePlus for data collection and tracking on a wearables pilot.
The five-soldier team concept, which builds so-called H2F integrators, is an effort to spread the knowledge into the formations, allowing those division teams to essentially train the trainer in their brigades and get H2F to units.
“If a division says they’re ready, I will put together a team if you’re ready to come out and train for it,” Kline said.
But the Center for Initial Military Training isn’t here to dictate how units implement the day-to-day use of H2F principles and training; brigades have their own missions and needs.
For instance, 10th Mountain Division in Fort Drum, New York, has a specific mission that involves mountain and cold weather work. The 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii must ready itself for jungle climates. They would need to train differently.
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The H2F integrator approach is key because even at 15 brigades a year with a 110-brigade goal by 2029, that’s still only 47% of active duty brigades. This means more than half of the active duty Army and all the Guard and Reserve must have their soldiers trained to bring the program into the formation.
The full H2F staff includes two dozen contracted staff members. The team consists of an H2F program director, nutrition, injury control and mental health directors, a registered dietician, a physical therapist, athletic trainers, strength coaches, cognitive performance specialists, occupational therapists, and more.
To read the full story from DefenseNews.com about H2F program expansion, click here.
