Army Launches Bold New Playbook to Boost Soldiers’ Spiritual Strength

FORT CAVAZOS, Texas — The U.S. Army has released a 112-page Spiritual Readiness Guide aimed at helping soldiers assess and enhance their spiritual fitness, paralleling efforts in physical readiness. The guide, part of the Army’s Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) program, includes principles, developmental stages, and training strategies to integrate spiritual resilience into everyday military life.

Accompanying the guide are two new resources: the Battle Book, a practical workbook, and the first volume of a graphic novel series titled Will to Fight, both designed to reinforce spiritual development across ranks.

“This is for every soldier and every leader, regardless of religious background,” said Sgt. Maj. Meaghan Simmons. “It’s about supporting spiritual readiness just as we do with physical readiness.”

The initiative does not promote any specific faith. Instead, it emphasizes purpose, meaning, and resilience under stress. “Spiritual fitness is less about what you believe and more about whether it works,” said Sgt. Maj. Dustin Hall, III Corps’ chief religious affairs officer. “Can you find meaning, identify purpose, and remain steady under fire?”

The guide introduces a four-stage model of spiritual readiness:

• External (“To Me”): Soldiers view events as happening to them, with a limited sense of agency.
• Agency (“By Me”): Soldiers begin to recognize personal responsibility and the ability to influence outcomes.
• Purpose (“Through Me”): Soldiers align actions with larger values and a sense of mission.
• Empowered (“As Me”): Soldiers live with purpose, focused on legacy and mentoring others.

As soldiers progress through these stages, leaders evolve from instructors to mentors and advisors, supporting the development of spiritual resilience in their teams. “This gives commanders an operational lens with trainable and measurable components for spiritual fitness,” Hall explained. “Every leader, not just chaplains or religious affairs specialists, can use it to engage soldiers about their spiritual domain.” The guide draws on the work of notable figures, including Viktor Frankl, Abraham Lincoln, and Gen. George Patton. It also outlines sample spiritual fitness plans and practical metrics, grounded in eight key principles: simplicity, consistency, integration, flexibility, unity of effort, sustainability, economy, and responsiveness. Development of the guide followed an eight-month pilot program at Fort Cavazos. During weekly Phantom Forge rotations, roughly 400 soldiers received instruction in spiritual principles, with ongoing surveys refining the program’s content and effectiveness. The Army’s goal is clear: equip leaders at all levels with tools to foster spiritual strength—ensuring soldiers are not only physically ready for battle, but mentally and spiritually resilient as well.

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