The Army’s program to enhance soldiers’ readiness through regular mental and physical fitness continues to expand across the force, Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Mingus said.

In remarks Feb. 4 at the monthly meeting of the Association of the U.S. Army’s George Washington chapter in Arlington, Virginia, Mingus said the program, known as Holistic Health and Fitness, or H2F, started with 28 brigades and has now expanded to 71 brigades in the active Army.

By fiscal year 2027, the program, which puts teams of nutritionists, physical therapists, strength and conditioning coaches and other experts with units, will expand to 111 brigades and to the entire Army beyond that, including the Army Reserve and Army National Guard.

“We cannot afford not to do this, because what it is giving back to the Army in terms of soldier lethality, readiness and everything else, it is paying for itself,” said Mingus, who has been the Army vice chief of staff since Jan. 4, 2024.

The H2F system is designed to empower soldiers to maintain their health, fitness and well-being for peak performance by optimizing physical and non-physical performance while minimizing injury. The system, which promotes mental, sleep, nutritional, physical and spiritual readiness, is supported at the brigade level with specialists and equipment.

While the Army Combat Fitness Test measures a soldier’s fitness at a particular time, Mingus noted, the H2F program goes to the root of bolstering soldiers’ readiness by promoting regular health and fitness habits with the help of nutritionists, physical therapists, strength and conditioning coaches and more.

“Never have we had a program that got after the holistic components of mind, body, soul, sleep and nutrition,” Mingus said. “It takes all those things together in a meaningful way to allow that soldier to be better, faster, stronger. … It's about lethality, it's about being able to do your job better, about being better than your adversary.”

Regardless of MOS, he said, all soldiers have the same mission profile and can expect to endure “long periods of aerobic activity” in a combat setting, followed by anaerobic activity as the mission shifts to moving on an objective.

“In that period of time, whether that firefight lasts five minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, three hours or all day, during that time you’re going to have to be able to slow down, get your heart rate back down, take deep breaths, make decisions, take shots, do things that require agility and then, when it’s all said and done, you’ve got to get home,” Mingus said.

Unlike professional athletes, Mingus said, soldiers don’t have an off-season to recover and train. Soldiers must be “ready every day because we don’t know when the call is going to come,” he said.

“We owe it to our soldiers to give them the best trainers, facilities and everything else so that when we actually ask them to go somewhere, they can fight and win,” Mingus said.

Army leaders will provide updates on the H2F program and other health and fitness initiatives on March 5 during a “Holistic Health and the Resilient Soldier” Hot Topic hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army. Learn more and register to attend here.