Photo By Sgt. 1st Class John Miller | Mr. Peter Belk, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for Readiness, delivers a...... read more read more
Leaders from across the U.S. Army, international partners, industry, and academia descended on the Hampton Roads Convention Center from May 12th through May 14th for the annual Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) Symposium.
More than 1,100 registered attendees, 35 international partners, and over 60 vendors in the human performance realm came together to discuss the future of human performance and the Army’s system that has revolutionized how Soldiers prepare to dominate on the modern battlefield.
The event featured presentations from Department of War leaders across all three components, H2F domain subject matter experts, industry, and academia, along with breakout sessions focusing on each of the H2F readiness domains: physical, mental, nutritional, spiritual, and sleep readiness.
The keynote speakers for the first day of the H2F Symposium, the 17th Sgt. Maj. of the Army, Michael Weimer, and the 20th Sgt. Maj. of the Marine Corps, Carlos Ruiz, stressed the importance of leaders modeling Warfighter Performance Optimization so it is engrained in the Department of War’s ability to fight as a Joint Force.
"I focus on how to prepare our Soldiers to perform with cognitive load, resilience, controlling their heart rate and their ability to make data-informed decisions for the next fight," said SMA Weimer. "There will always be a human thinking through our life and death decisions, and H2F is a direct investment in our warfighters’ ability to make the best one."
“The next fight is going to be a different type of war and we will elevate our standards to meet the needs of that fight”, said SMMC Ruiz. “Leaders across industry and academia, we are looking for you all to help us build the next generation of lethal Marines and Soldiers”.
Mr. Peter Belk, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for Readiness, provided an update on how the Department of War is emphasizing warfighter performance optimization across the Joint Force to ensure we treat our nation’s warfighters as a readiness capability, ensuring our ability to fight and win our nation’s wars on the ground, in the water, and in the sky.
“Our foundational belief is an integrated approach through Total Force Fitness, TFF, will directly improve our most valuable weapon the human weapons system”, said Mr. Belk. “It’s the Army that has provided the master class in how to bring this policy to life. The H2F program is the living breathing embodiment of this five-domain model”.
Dr. Tim Murray, Director of the Data and Decision Sciences Program at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM), updated us on return-on-investment data. He compared H2F-resourced and non-resourced units, detailed cost avoidance, and presented data showing how H2F teams impact Warfighters’ ability to fight and win.
Data was analyzed from 25 Department of War systems, covering 43 million Soldier data points from FY 2018 to 2025. Analysis focused on Soldiers in H2F resourced Brigades and those never in a resourced Brigade. Results show:
“Soldiers within H2F Brigades are more lethal, ready, and deployable than their counterparts”, said Dr. Murray. “If H2F were across every Brigade, within the Army, it would directly create a force more ready to fight and win our nations wars”.
As the Army continues to implement H2F across the Total Force, industry leaders have demonstrated the value of investing in incorporating human performance optimization within corporate settings. Mr. Newton Chang, former director of Health and Performance at Google and the closing speaker on Day 1, described how Google’s approach to its human performance optimization is nested within its “People Operations” department. This department utilizes data-driven analytics and evidence-based decision-making to optimize workforce productivity and retention.
“While at Google, we invested in community leaders who built communities where healthy competition increased our productivity, connectivity, and social connection”, said Mr. Chang. “This connective tissue, within the world of human performance, builds a spiritual net for our teammates to take a knee rather than falling down”.
Investing in the Army’s most precious weapon system, the American Soldier, through the H2F System has proven to serve as a force multiplier that directly improves the Warfighter’s ability to close with and destroy the enemy when called.
More information about the 2026 H2F Symposium is available here.
| Date Taken: | 05.13.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 05.13.2026 17:25 |
| Story ID: | 565211 |
| Location: | HAMPTON, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 21 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Experts in human performance embark on H2F Symposium, by Hunter Rhoades, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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