T&C April/May - 31

Strength & Conditioning
of money. Working in the Army allows me to have those
honest and strong relationships with soldiers much more
quicker. Plus in the private sector, an individual can only
train to the level of their budget. Soldiers do not pay out
of pocket for my services; therefore, their wallet doesn't
determine their success. H2F gives me the environment
to help every soldier without hindrance.
WHAT MAKES H2F DIFFERENT THAN WHAT THE
ARMY HAS DONE BEFORE?
The Program Director is a civilian, which gives more
stability and experience to the program. I also report
directly to the brigade commander. This allows H2F to
make changes to initiatives and practices in a timely
manner to stay effective.
Additionally, H2F teams are embedded in the brigade
footprint. This allows for face-to-face interactions with
soldiers in all aspects of their daily workday. If they don't
see you, they don't know you. If they don't know you,
they don't trust you. If they don't trust you, they don't
utilize you. You can't help people very well if that don't
know you exist.
Lastly, and most important, is our H2F team is better
resourced with talent than ever before. Our team has
a broad range of experience in each of the Army's five
readiness domains. We have former collegiate athletes,
a Muay-Thai national champion, and even a tap dancer.
We also have more than 10 providers to speed up
access to care on the medical side. Collectively there is
going to be very little we can't handle.
HAVE YOU NOTICED A CHANGE IN THE BRIGADE'S
FITNESS CULTURE WITH H2F?
Yes. There is a long list of things that can be
aggregated to show a great impact, but one statistic
we have been tracking since the beginning of our H2F
program is foot-traffic through our building.
In the first weeks of the program, traffic through
our building was under 500 soldiers a month. Today
we average over 2,000 a month through that same
building, but the exciting part is that we now function
out of six different buildings! Our total soldier face-toface
contacts in all buildings as a team easily exceed
5,000 a month, which is even more impressive when
you consider our brigade consists of less than 3,000
soldiers in total.
Like I say if you want to find the honey, follow the
bees! If we weren't having a positive impact on the
soldiers they wouldn't keep coming in. We also have
the National Guard, Army Reserves, local universities,
and division units reaching out to us quite regularly.
HAVE YOU SEEN AN INCREASE OR IMPROVEMENT
IN INDIVIDUAL SOLDIER READINESS AS A RESULT
OF THE H2F PERFORMANCE TEAM?
Individual soldier connection is the fundamental
trait that welds H2F into the hearts and minds of the
brigade. We have seen a soldier with severe tremors
go from being unable to get out of bed in the morning
without assistance to lifting heavy weights and
ruck marching. One soldier suffered a catastrophic
injury, only to be rehabilitated by H2F and later set
Pennsylvania state powerlifting records. We also
had several soldiers seek out H2F because of severe
depression and feelings of self-harm, rise above that
struggle, and find renewed joy and purpose through
H2F and their friendships with H2F team members.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES YOUR
TEAM HAS FACED?
One challenge that faces a lot of teams
across the Army relates to building a
unified H2F program. Many team members
are young in the profession and are
learning to collaborate not only with the
soldiers but also with each other. We were
successful by deliberately establishing an
official H2F team culture. Have a written
vision statement, mission statement,
motto, coaching principles/standards, and
a true and defining logo that represents
the team. All of this gives our team a
foundation or " common language " from
which we can bond and create a unique
culture that inspires and directs our team
members and gives the soldiers something
to hold us accountable to.
*This story originally appeared in the
Winter 2023 issue our sister publication,
Tactical Training & Conditioning. n
training-conditioning.com | 31
http://www.training-conditioning.com
T&C April/May

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