The Army needs soldiers who are physically and spiritually healthy to perform the demanding missions required of them, said retired Maj. Gen. Tom Solhjem, the former Army chief of chaplains.

In a Nov. 13 Noon Report webinar hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army, Solhjem said readiness has “both a very deeply spiritual component … and a very physical component. We’ve got to have people to do what the nation needs them to do.”

“The soldier’s heart, soul and spirit are everything, and they must be sustained spiritually and physically, and if you don’t do those things, the soldiers will fail themselves,” said Solhjem, who retired in August 2023 after 49 years of service. “That’s tragic, and ultimately they’ll fail their country.”

Solhjem invoked evidence-based research showing that spirituality is present in every human being at birth. “Science shows that spiritual life is really like a hub, and the other things are the spokes that go to the wheel which makes our life go around, … so spiritual development in children is extremely important,” he said. “Not everybody embraces a religious faith tradition, but they’re on a journey of learning and education and growing and encountering and experiencing those things that can shape your life and direction.”

On nutrition, Solhjem noted that during the pre-World War II days of the Great Depression, Army leaders saw a culture of malnutrition around the nation in the gaunt, unhealthy faces of the young people who would one day become soldiers. The answer was to institute school lunch programs, he said.

Today, citing obesity, Solhjem said the opposite is true, explaining that “readiness begins in the nation.”

“We see it coming into the Army, we have a real concern that we have a population now that’s not gaunt, but now eating the wrong things,” Solhjem said.

Renowned chef, author and philanthropist Daniel Thomas, who participated in the webinar along with Solhjem, pointed out that eating healthfully is critical to a soldier’s ability to meet the challenges of combat.

Soldiers, he said, need to understand nutritional health. “Boots on the ground is just as important as the general, everybody has a place, it is a machine,” Thomas said. “It’s one of the main things I try to focus on whether I’m talking to military individuals or just the average person or celebrity, I want to make sure they learn to eat healthy.”