WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
  • The Army is testing applications and dashboards for its expanding Holistic Health and Fitness system.
  • Leaders fear excessive performance information could create data fatigue and weaken soldier participation.
  • Officials expect 129 active duty brigades, four National Guard states and two Army Reserve commands to have H2F teams by fiscal year 2029.
  • A Fiscal Year 2027 pilot will focus on the application and its end user experience.

The Army is conducting early testing of applications and dashboards for its Holistic Health and Fitness system, while leaders wrestle with how much performance data soldiers should see.

Officials want the information to motivate troops without overwhelming them or reducing useful measurements to background noise.

Holistic Health and Fitness, known as H2F, began as a pilot in 2018.

The initiative sought to provide combat brigades with specialized equipment and personnel, including dietitians, occupational therapists and athletic trainers.

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The program focuses on improving troop fitness, preventing injuries and supporting overall warfighter health.

After its pilot phase proved successful, the Army announced in 2024 that it planned to eventually expand H2F to all soldiers.

A central piece of that expansion is the H2F Management System, described as a software solution for soldiers, leaders and human performance personnel. An Army release from last December said the system would provide “data-driven insights that are typically only found within Special Operations or professional athletics.”

The system’s arrival also creates a practical challenge. Army leaders must decide which information deserves a place on the dashboards and how much data troops and commanders can realistically use.

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Drill Sergeant of the Year competitors complete warm-up exercises in preparation for the Army Fitness Test, a scored event in the contest at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, on Sept. 14, 2026. (Master Sgt. Crystal Harlow/U.S. Army)

Command Sgt. Maj. Alex Kupratty, senior enlisted leader of Army Transformation and Training Command, discussed the issue during an event hosted this month by the Military Officers Association of America.

He voiced concern that troops could become bogged down in “data fatigue” when the dashboards come online.

“I will tell you, I wear a Whoop. I wear an Oura Ring, and I tell you I probably look at half of the data that it provides me daily, and that’s being very generous,” he said.

Kupratty suggested that physical readiness should remain the leading concern when judging the system’s return on investment.

He asked whether soldiers were becoming more resilient and more prepared to fight and win the nation’s wars.

Information supporting injury prevention and recovery should rank as the second highest priority, he said.

That approach would place readiness outcomes ahead of simply flooding users with every available measurement.

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Spc. Miguel-Angel Gonzalez from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, works with Zach Albin, a strength conditioning coach with Army's holistic health and fitness program at Fort Drum, New York on Aug. 27, 2024. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Alyssa Norton.

Tyler Christiansen, a senior operations manager with General Dynamics Information Technology, said Army commanders could help determine how information should be presented.

The company is supporting development of the H2F Management System.

Christiansen said planners should first ask commanders what matters to them, then work downward to determine what can be captured at lower levels.

Possible measurements include heart rate variability, sleep, workout tonnage and diet plans.

Those individual data points matter, Christiansen said, but information also must be communicated upward to demonstrate return on investment.

He referred to showing senior “bean counters” why the program is important.

Christiansen did not say whether the dashboards would eventually process collected information into customized measurements for readiness, prevention and recovery.

The rollout remains in its early stages, and the Army has not announced a target date for fielding the management system.

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Soldiers flip a tire during a competition at Schofield Barracks East Range, Hawaii, Feb. 25, 2022.

Officials said in December that they expect 129 active duty brigades, four states within the Army National Guard and two Army Reserve commands to receive H2F performance teams by fiscal year 2029.

Leaders also recognize that the presentation of information could determine whether soldiers embrace the system.

Jonathan Flynn, H2F program director with the 199th Infantry Brigade, recently spent two days at Fort Benning, Georgia, evaluating three different application styles that soldiers could soon use.

“I need the soldier to want to use this management system so we can get the data that that organization wants to collect,” Flynn said.

He noted that previous efforts at the 75th Ranger Regiment and other organizations failed because they did not secure participation from the end users.

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The specific wearable devices or data collection experiment he referenced were not clear. The 75th Ranger Regiment has participated in multiple human performance improvement efforts, including projects using wearable devices to monitor heat injury risk and broader soldier performance.

Another pilot scheduled for the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2027 will focus on the application and the experience of its end users.

Flynn said the immediate priority is persuading soldiers to log their information before officials settle questions involving heart rate variability, Whoop devices and other measurements.

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