Comprehensive Soldier Fitness • www.Army.mil/csf

What is Comprehensive Soldier Fitness?
The Army established Comprehensive Soldier Fitness (CSF) to enhance the resilience, readiness and potential of Soldiers, family members and Army civilians.

CSF will develop and institute a holistic fitness program for Soldiers, Families and Army civilians to enhance performance and build resilience. As a result we will have an Army of balanced, healthy, self-confident people whose resilience and total fitness enables them to excel in an era of high operational tempo and persistent conflict.

Resilience is the ability to grow and thrive in the face of challenges and to bounce back from adversity.

CSF provides specific mental and physical resilience techniques that will increase physical, emotional, social, spiritual and Family strengths through a program of continuous self-development.

Why is this important to the Army?
For nearly eight years, the Army has operated in an environment of sustained combat, resulting in increased levels of stress on the force. However, many Soldiers experience personal and professional growth as a result of their deployments. CSF exists to ensure all Soldiers have the skills to grow personally, succeed in their job, thrive in their community, and grow within their Family.

The Army recognizes the need to focus more holistically on fitness, which is more than just physical fitness. Resilience training—which teaches coping strategies among other skills—and self-development, are just some of the elements incorporated into the CSF program. Additionally, Soldiers, Family members and Army civilians will be linked with programs to help them be successful throughout their career.

How is CSF Different?
The program is the Army's effort to increase our ability to prevent problems before they occur. We want to open our focus from just finding and treating dysfunction and disease, to enhancing fitness and prevention.

For example, rather than simply training people to use CPR on heart attack victims, people should learn how to help prevent heart disease with exercise and a sound diet. As a result, people will reduce the risk of heart attacks through preventative measures.

What are the Army's Plans for the Future?
Beginning at accession, each recruit will be confidentially assessed using the Global Assessment Tool, a survey that determines the psychological strength of the individual. Soldiers will be re-assessed throughout their career, helping them monitor and control personal growth. Based on the assessment, CSF will offer a menu of appropriate self-development opportunities to Soldiers.

CSF provides instruction throughout the Soldier's Army service on specific mental and physical skills he or she can use to enhance performance when facing many of life's challenges.

CSF will be fully implemented by the Army, including the National Guard and Army Reserve, in 2010. Once the program is implemented throughout the uniformed force, a variation of CSF will be available for Family members and Army civilians.

Global Assessment Tool–
Online Individual Assessment Tool • https://www.sft.army.mil

What is it?
The Army is committed to a prevention model for the entire force, enhancing Soldiers resilience and coping skills. This model consists of life-long learning that begins by providing individual assessment through the Global Assessment Tool. The Global Assessment Tool (GAT), as part of the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program, provides a person with a baseline in the four dimensions of strength: emotional, social, spiritual and Family; and provides an opportunity to track self-development and growth in these areas over time.

What has the Army done?
Developed by subject matter experts from the U.S. military and civilian universities, the GAT contains a series of questions prepared by scientists, and tested and validated by Soldiers.

An individual's answers to the GAT are not accessible to others nor are they meant to diagnose. The GAT provides immediate results that allow Soldiers to identify their own personal strengths and weaknesses. Soldiers are able to immediately begin training that will help them enhance their performance and build resilience.

What does the Army have planned for the future?
All Soldiers are able to take the GAT now. The individual's results are linked to Comprehensive Resilience Modules that provide tools to help a person enhance his or her resilience skills in each of the four dimensions.

Soldiers will take the GAT every two years or 120 days following contingency operation deployments. The reserve-component Soldiers are also able to take the GAT every two years, and within 180 days following contingency operation deployments.

Family members will have the opportunity to take the Global Assessment Tool beginning in January 2010, and Army civilians in March 2010.

Why is this important to the Army?
Comprehensive Soldier Fitness is designed to raise the level of importance of psychological fitness to that of physical fitness. The program hails a new era and culture change for the Army, who now also equips and trains its Soldiers to maximize their potential and face the psychological rigors of sustained operations. This assessment and training enhances resilience and coping skills, enabling Soldiers to grow and thrive during this very demanding period of our Army.