The Army builds H2F training and testing across a Soldier’s career span in two phases: initial and sustaining. The training is based on an assessment of the needs of the Soldier and the unit.
The testing validates that training has met the readiness needs of the Soldier and, by extension, his or her unit. This part of the doctrine discusses the two phases of the H2F System.
Here we will cover the Sustaining phase. Click here for the initial phase
INTRODUCTION
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Sustaining phase H2F training builds upon the foundation established in initial phase.
The sustaining phase creates mastery of the physical and mental attributes of occupational and combat tasks.
Developing individualized programs for Soldiers will be the norm in sustaining phase.
This is possible in sustaining phase because each unit or installation will have the requisite H2F System.
For National Guard and remotely located Soldiers, regional H2F performance team members within each state (available as consultants to individuals and units) develop and implement H2F training.
Equipment and facility support will be through unit facilities and other training venues.
WARRANT OFFICER CANDIDATE SCHOOL
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H2F training and testing in Warrant Officer Candidate School employs sustaining phase programming that prepares warrant officer candidates for their FUAs.
WARRANT OFFICER BASIC COURSE
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The Warrant Officer Basic Course will continue requirements established in Warrant Officer Candidate School for the various durations of Warrant Officer Basic Course.
These may include and are not limited to physical and nonphysical training domains.
BASIC OFFICER LEADER COURSES
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Cadets and officer candidates report to an accessions basic officer leader course with various levels of physical and nonphysical readiness.
They will have passed the OPAT.
The first weeks of training focus on progressive training of the whole body.
Similar to BCT, cadets and officer candidates in an accessions basic officer leader course perform initial phase training.
They learn fundamental physical skills as well as the drill and ceremony that they will use to lead Soldiers.
Officers in a branch basic officer level course transition to sustaining phase activities once they have passed the ACFT.
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To minimize the risk of injury and overtraining, the intensity and volume of training progresses gradually.
Commanders, cadre, and H2F performance teams should evaluate each new cadet or officer candidate who falls below an accessions basic officer leader course standards and should give special assistance to improve performance.
More training is not necessarily better.
The quality and quantity of training should be assessed with an understanding that some cadets and officer candidates may require additional time to make the improvements required to meet Army standards.
ACTIVE COMPONENT
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The goal of H2F is to improve each Soldier’s physical and nonphysical readiness to survive and win in any operational environment.
The H2F System enables the Army to provide campaign-capable, expeditionary forces.
Commanders are responsible for the training, performance and readiness of their Soldiers, and use the training management cycle and resources to meet H2F objectives.
See ADP 7-0 for training.
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The Army’s unit training plan discussed in ADP 7-0 provides the framework for commanders to achieve proficiency in their units’ mission-essential task lists (METLs).
The unit METL drives training.
Key to the success of this process is the inclusion of bottom-up feedback.
This approach applies mission command to the training process.
Mission command is the Army’s approach to command and control that empower subordinate decision making and decentralizes execution.
With this approach, senior leaders provide training focus, direction, and resources.
Subordinate leaders develop training objectives and training requirements specific to the unit and provide feedback on training proficiency.
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At each level of a unit’s hierarchy above the squad or team, H2F performance team members starting with H2F master trainers are available to advise on and implement H2F training.
These members identify unit needs and train to standard according to the unit training plan or the published training schedule.
They analyze tasks and identify both collective and individual tasks that support the higher headquarters METL— the bottom-up feedback.
Over time, structured, recurring periods of H2F training increases unit readiness.
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Commanders should establish H2F program goals based on the physical and nonphysical requirements of the unit’s METL or mission.
Commanders use this process and H2F performance team personnel to identify training requirements for the unit’s mission and to subsequently plan, prepare, execute, and assess all H2F training.
This is the process for effective H2F governance within the unit.
This process is critical to ensure proper readiness outcomes of the unit’s H2F program.
RESERVE COMPONENT
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With operational deployments increasing in recent times, United States Army Reserve (USAR) and Army National Guard of the United States (ARNG) Soldiers have made up about half of the personnel engaged in current conflicts.
In this increasingly busy operational period, and with civilian occupational demands further restraining time to train, Army Reserve and Army National Guard Soldiers understand the critical importance of time to optimize individual readiness well above and beyond physical fitness test standards.
It is critical that Reserve Component commanders use the Army training management cycle to support their units’ METLs.
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Army Reserve and Army National Guard Soldiers typically perform occupational and operational tasks that are the same as their Regular Army counterparts.
However, they may have lower fitness levels because they conduct mandated physical readiness training less frequently throughout the year.
As such, some Reserve Component Soldiers may be at greater risk of injury and have physical performance deficits.
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The H2F program gives Soldiers the motivation and knowledge they need to conduct their own quality training sessions between unit collective training or when they are off-base or in remote locations.
H2F performance teams at unit assemblies incorporate H2F activities from this field manual into individual schedule for drill (inactive duty training) periods.
Most of the activities support Reserve Component unit METLs.
Therefore, during assemblies, H2F personnel teach one aspect of a high-priority domain—for example, Running Drill 2 for strength improvement—for Soldiers to practice on their own.
Many of the exercises in require no or very little equipment, so Soldiers can practice individually if facilities are not readily available.
When Soldiers require equipment, for weight training for example, most military and civilian physical training facilities commonly have it.
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Given the restraints on training Reserve Component personnel, the H2F System provides a program to monitor and motivate regular, systematic training of these Soldiers.
Monitoring is important—especially if the Army pays Soldiers to maintain standards or awards them promotion points for success on fitness tests.
Monitoring compliance with training is accomplished in the future applications (mobile applications).
The application details each training session conducted remotely by capturing a mix of automatic monitoring (heart rate, elevation change, step cadence, and Global Positioning System) and self-reporting rating of perceived exertion (RPE), satisfaction with the workout, and self-reported readiness level.
The application sends results to H2F performance team personnel and the unit command.
The application adjusts programs to raise the Soldier’s self-reported readiness level and to meet the unit’s mission.
The mobile application can connect Soldiers to unit and partner training sessions, which improves teamwork, cohesion, and aspiration to do well.
INDIVIDUAL TRAINING
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Soldiers in the Army Reserve Troop Program Unit and Army National Guard, and many Soldiers in the Regular Army (such as recruiters, shift workers, criminal investigators, Army school cadre, foreign area officers, and defense attaches) depend on information in this doctrine for H2F programming.
The H2F System supplies them with the knowledge and support they need to prepare for their occupational and combat tasks.
Soldiers who work and train on their own must make every effort to conduct H2F physical and nonphysical training throughout their work weeks.
The program works best when it becomes a normal way of daily life, incorporating and complying with the best nutritional readiness, mental readiness, spiritual readiness, and sleep readiness as well as physical readiness training techniques and procedures.
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All Soldiers must understand that it is their personal responsibility to achieve and sustain a high level of readiness.
Individual H2F training is designed to improve each Soldier’s contribution to the unit’s readiness.
Strength and conditioning drills, movement skill, mental training drills, mindfulness exercises, sleep readiness, and performance nutritional practices can be mastered individually or with a partner.
The Soldier who immerses individually in the practices builds readiness equivalent to any Soldier doing the same in a collective setting.
CONDENSED TRAINING
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When scheduled training requirements, environmental considerations, or FTXs conflict with the designated time available for H2F training, leaders may condense the sessions.
This applies in both initial and sustaining phases.
These sessions, while being shorter and therefore less likely to meet unit readiness goals, may still have a focus to them.
Table 2-1 illustrates two examples of condensed physical training sessions.
One session focuses on strength and one focuses on endurance.
Table 2-1. Condensed holistic health and fitness sessions
| Session | RPE | Sustaining Phase | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strength | 6 | Preparation: PD (5 reps) Activities: GD (1 rep); CD1 & CD2 (5 reps), or deadlift. Recovery: RD (20 secs) | 30’ |
| Endurance | 6 | Preparation: PD (5 reps) Activities: MMD2; 60-120s (4 reps) Recovery: RD (20 secs) | 30’ |
- CD – Conditioning Drill
- GD – Guerrilla Drill
- MMD – Military Movement Drill
- PD – Preparation Drill
- RD – Recovery Drill
- Rep – Repetition
- RPE – Rating of Perceived Exertion
- Secs – Seconds
Phases
The two phases of the Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) System, the initial phase and the sustaining phase, cover the Total Army. From the start of the initial phase as a new recruit until completion of the sustaining phase when Soldiers become Army careerists, they will be immersed in a comprehensive H2F System that optimizes their readiness.