We’re Active Duty, but with enough schools, missions, and other TDY to effectively have the same challenge. We struggle to muster 25% of our unit on any given day for a Change of Command ceremony, and generally can’t rely on traditional Army methods of engaging formations in person.

Given that challenge, one of the first things I did to address it when standing up the Company was to add a motivating clause to the Company PRT Policy: “Soldiers who score less than 70 points in any event or less than 220 points overall, on the APFT, will submit an operations order to the Company Commander, NLT seven days from the date of their APFT, detailing their physical and dietary situation, and their plan for improvement.” This clause has been the topic of much heated debate, but has at least passed the muster of an IG SAV inspection (not centered on my Company). Since we have not instituted any punitive measures for non-compliance, this may be better served as an SOP than policy, but the implied task of “create a buffer between you and failure” seems to have gotten through, as we won a streamer for highest APFT average of 5 companies. Pretty much no matter where you are, there’s some opportunity to work out. If you’re motivated, one way or another you’ll find a way to exceed the standard.

I’ve been pondering the best way to address diet, but the running advice I’ve received is not to give advice, as I’m not a dietician. If a Soldier gets enrolled in the Army Body Composition Program, we send them to a dietician, but that’s as far as we’ve gone. I’ve been told the Army Wellness Center has a proactive nutrition program, but we haven’t engaged them yet, largely because they favor face-to-face interaction which I addressed above. Any advice on promoting good nutrition?