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strengthened. When social fitness is established as an over- to navigate relationship concerns, family struggles, financial
arching goal, situational factors such as culture, availability insecurity, and major transitions. For example, MFLCs as-
of social support, and institutional practices are as important sist Servicemembers to manage early signs of unhealthy and
as individual efforts. If we think of social fitness as a dynamic unsafe relationships and respond accordingly. Chaplains are
process of nurturing individual factors that lead to better often associated with, and work within the religious sector;
communication, interpersonal stress management, and post- however, they also provide social support and resources. Their
growth initiative, Servicemembers will be more able to navi- confidential communications allow Servicemembers to freely
gate challenging environments and identify the support they share their experiences without fear of being reported to com-
need. This dynamic process will enable Servicemembers to be- mand, loss of security clearances, and/or punishment. For
come socially fit. communities such as Special Operations, being able to openly
communicate with a trusted confidante without judgment or
A challenge associated with an individual-focused definition documentation can be vital in prevention and early interven-
of social fitness is that the concept of social fitness is often tion efforts. Further, by helping Servicemembers process emo-
measured at the individual level instead of at the group level. tions around relationship concerns and connecting them to
In addition, the lack of a unified definition suggests that social counselors, childcare, or local community resources, chaplains
fitness has been operationalized as social cohesion, defined also act as conduits for social support during active service. An
as positive social relationships within a group that holds that additional resource are nonprofit organizations, such as the
group together, and social support, defined as the emotional, Honor Foundation, who work in the social fitness space by
instrumental, and informational support from individuals, helping transitioning active duty Servicemembers expand their
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groups, and institutions adjacent to a Servicemember. By social network to successfully reintegrate into civilian life.
measuring the attitudes and behaviors of individuals collec-
tively, Griffith et al. found a positive relationship between mil- The MFLCs, chaplains, nonprofits, and Veteran services might
itary groups’ social cohesion and satisfaction with the service, not be able to change the availability of healthy social sup-
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personal morale, retention, and combat readiness. In contrast, port systems, but they can help Servicemembers improve their
McGene et al. found social support contributes to Service- ability to optimize existing support systems or forge new con-
members’ resilience. Social cohesion and social support are nections. While this is a great start, systematic barriers such
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more measurable concepts compared to the abstract concept as stigma, fear of reprisal, or lack of leadership endorsement
of social fitness, especially when looking at group dynamics, can hinder help-seeking and diminish the reach of these social
and contribute to the effectiveness of military teams and their health-building initiatives. Therefore, before social fitness can
ability to complete missions. However, these measures, like be improved, it needs to be acknowledged that social fitness
many of the social fitness definitions, only illuminate a single is not a trait solely based on the individual’s capacity or re-
dimension of the social domain. Analyzing social fitness alone sources to improve but rather, a dynamic process influenced
as it relates to a team’s ability to complete short-term missions by interactions at various ecological levels. Further, it must be
falls short of the TFF model’s focus on the overall health and culturally accepted as a separate yet vital domain of functional
long-term performance of a Servicemember during their life- health and performance, worthy of integration into care prac-
span. Various DoD programs have been developed to support tices and resources for studying its antecedents and outcomes.
social fitness and social cohesion, which are analyzed in the
next section.
Addressing Social Fitness Programs
According to the CJCSI, TFF was created to “support and aug-
Social Fitness Providers
for Health and Performance ment the individual service efforts” to prepare Servicemembers
for mission readiness. It has been an ongoing challenge to de-
Social support is a widely regarded and extensively studied fine specific health and performance programs in the social do-
protective factor for health and performance. Substantial main and to assign direct responsibility for their execution with
evidence shows that meaningful social connections result in a preponderance of programs and resources aimed at meeting
individual and collective benefits. Perceived social support is existing medical readiness requirements and addressing nega-
associated with improved physical health, resilience, and cog- tive behavioral issues. The other TFF domains have Subject
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nitive functioning. 10-12 If we accept the earliest definition of Matter Experts (SMEs) who are ascribed ownership over pro-
social fitness proposed by the CJCS in the TFF framework, gramming. For example, the psychological domain includes
social fitness is therefore contingent on the ability to engage various psychological professionals to operationalize the full
and availability of healthy social networks. There are several spectrum of their domain, such as operational psychologists,
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programs across the DoD enterprise committed to helping clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, cognitive performance ex-
Servicemembers strengthen social fitness and improve their perts, and licensed clinical social workers. The spiritual domain
personal and professional relationships. Although their oper- includes chaplains. The nutritional domain involves dietitians.
ations partially overlap with other TFF domains, the level of The physical domain comprises various professionals, such as
integration varies between Armed Services and across instal- physicians, occupational therapists, physical therapists, chiro-
lations. This can leave chaplains and marriage and family life practors, conditioning coaches, athletic trainers, and ergono-
counselors (MFLCs) to fill the gap in social fitness by attend- mists. While some aspects of the social domain overlap with
ing to Servicemembers’ health and performance. the psychological or spiritual domains, these aspects are of-
ten pathologized as individual phenomena and are generally
The MFLCs confidentially support Servicemembers and their within the realm of health, involving behavioral issues, sub-
families with non-medical counseling to improve relationships stance abuse, and domestic violence rather than performance.
at home or work, manage stress, and overcome challenges in Meaningful overlaps will always exist among these domains,
life. They equip Servicemembers with actionable strategies but a clearer discernment of what belongs in the social fitness

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