The Army wants to enroll all soldiers in a new fitness program by 2032. How does it go?

The Army recently announced that its all-around health and fitness program will now expand from the elite 111 brigades to the entire Army.

Since launching with a pilot program in 2018, the Holistic Health and Fitness Program, or H2F, seeks to educate and improve Soldier performance in physical, mental, nutritional, spiritual and sleep areas.

To that end, the force has created brigade-level civilian teams of nearly two dozen contractor employees, including the H2F program director; nutrition, wound control and mental health directors; registered dietitians; physical therapist; athletic trainers; strength trainers; Cognitive function specialists and occupational therapists.

The brigade also receives fitness gear such as kettlebells, stationary bikes and various other equipment.

The Army’s original goal was to resource 110 close combat brigades by 2030. With H2F being implemented throughout the service, Army Times spoke with officials at the Training and Principles Command Center for Basic Military Training, which oversees the program, about where the service is headed. now

Here’s a look at the numbers.

Fifty active duty brigades now have H2F task teams. It includes a combination of combat units, such as infantry, armored and striker brigades, and support units, such as military police, medical, engineer, training and sustainment brigades.

The service expects to fully deploy operational teams to the original 111st select brigade, or 47% of all Army brigades, by fiscal year 2027.

The remaining 53% of the Army’s brigades will begin fielding operational teams in fiscal year 2028. According to officials, the goal is to complete all teams by fiscal year 2032.

“The typical model would have an H2F field support team that would be responsible for multiple units on an installation that don’t already have an H2F operational team,” said Dr. Kevin Biegelman, H2F vice president.

The Army Reserve will begin seeing active duty teams in its units in fiscal year 2026. All 28 commands and branches of the Army Reserve will have teams by FY 2030.

At the same time, the Army is developing the H2F Soldier Performance Management System, or H2FMS, to help Soldiers and leaders measure, evaluate and improve individual and unit fitness, performance and health.

Funding for team fielding to the first 111 brigades has already been factored into the fiscal 2026 to 2030 budget plans, officials said.

Officials said the H2F performance team costs $3 million a year for the field and $2.5 million to maintain. A squad for an Army National Guard or Reserve unit costs about $1.3 million to field and $1 million to maintain.

“The initial return on investment shows that H2F will pay for itself as it reduces musculoskeletal injuries, reduces non-deployment, and helps soldiers who are injured return to duty faster,” Biegelman said.

Preliminary data comparing H2F-sourced brigades with non-resourced brigades show:

• Although musculoskeletal injuries (MKSI) increased across the Army, brigades with H2F activity teams had a 14% lower increase in MSKI and a 30% lower increase in MSKI over 90 days.
• Army Combat Fitness Test pass rate 23% higher.
• 27% more soldiers qualified as expert marksmen.
• 22% lower increase in behavioral health reports.
• 502% less increase in drug abuse profile.

Source: Basic Military Training Center

The military does not rely solely on civilian experts to advise its teams. Senior leaders want Soldiers on top of physical training but also have a working knowledge of other H2F domains.

In October 2023, the Army changed its Master Fitness Trainer course to the H2F Integrator course and renamed its physical fitness school the H2F Academy.

The mentoring program for students includes:

• Develop training programs to improve performance potential and reduce injury risk.
• Coaching and improving movement patterns.
• Fuel for functioning in daily life and for physically demanding tasks.
• Practice stress management techniques.
• Search for a greater purpose, and connect with it.
• Apply the basics of rest, recovery and sleep to compliment training programs.

Source: Basic Military Training Center

The academy has graduated 754 H2F integrators in the past year, officials said.

But to expand access, the Army also conducted satellite training on H2F for Guard and Reserve participants. This resulted in another 611 H2F mergers, for a total of 1,365 mergers now in the Army.