Operationalizing the Spiritual Domain
A Leader’s Role
This is a guest blog post submitted by a member of Leg Tuck Nation. The content represents their own views and opinions, with edits made only for grammar, clarity, etc. If you are interested in submitting your own content for consideration, click here.
I am not a chaplain.
But that doesn’t mean I’m off the hook when it comes to the Spiritual Domain of Holistic Health and Fitness.
Field Manual 7-22 clearly states that spiritual readiness “applies to all people, whether religious or non-religious” (Department of the Army, 2020). Yet in practice, leaders (like myself) often defer spiritual development to the Chaplain Corps. It’s a well-intentioned move modeled on how we approach other domains: defer physical training to strength coaches, nutrition to dietitians, injuries to athletic trainers, etc. But here’s the catch: while chaplains are invaluable resources for all Soldiers, what are the odds that a Soldier who doesn’t claim a religious affiliation will voluntarily walk into a chapel for support with things like purpose, values, or identity?
Slim.
So what do we do with this Spiritual Domain? What is spiritual fitness? Is it repping 225 on bench while your buddies read scripture over you? Singing hymns instead of cadence on a platoon run?
Obviously not.
Spiritual fitness isn’t about religion; it’s about core beliefs, meaning, purpose, and alignment with values. These shape how Soldiers endure hardship, make decisions under pressure, and find strength in uncertainty. In that sense, spiritual fitness is just as essential to combat readiness as VO2 or muscular endurance. For many Soldiers, religion is their source of spiritual fitness, but the two may not be mutually exclusive.
If we’re serious about holistic fitness, then leaders at all levels must take ownership of spiritual development, not just outsourcing it. When their Soldiers’ values, purpose, and identity are strong, so is their formation.
The Problem
The real problem is that we regularly underestimate the gravity of finding purpose. We have all been told that we could die. “If you text and drive, you could die.” “If you don’t get to proper cover and concealment, you could die.” “If you don’t get 150 minutes/week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, you could die” (CDC, 2023). The harder truth is that no matter what you do, at some point, you are going to die. That’s obvious; we all know it, yet we also regularly neglect to reconcile it until death confronts us. If death is inevitable, then our purpose must be greater than death itself. That’s significant.
Nevertheless, we are experts at pretending that we have all the time in the world. Viktor Frankl (1985) recounts a paradigm from inside concentration camps that he calls “the delusion of reprieve: [wherein] the condemned man, immediately before his execution, gets the illusion that he might be reprieved at the very last minute.” Ernest Becker (1997) furthers that “the unconscious does not know death or time: in man’s physiochemical, inner organic recesses he feels immortal.” Even the Christian Bible purports that “[God] has put eternity into man's heart” (ESV, 2001, Ecclesiastes 3:11), perhaps suggesting that subconsciously considering ourselves immortal is actually natural.
Pop culture regularly manipulates this dynamic. Aragorn doesn’t actually die when all is lost; he just looks to the East at dawn, and Gandalf saves him. Half the universe isn’t snapped away; Tony Stark invents time travel, steals the infinity stones at the last second, and saves everyone. Jedi don’t actually die; they become one with the force, turn blue, and harass Luke. Wizards don’t actually die; they become paintings at Hogwarts and heckle the students forever. You get the idea.
Death is difficult to ponder, let alone reconcile. It’s uncomfortable. It’s hard. But so is running. So is choosing black coffee over Bang. So is turning off Netflix and going to sleep. This is spiritual fitness.
The Solution
Modern philosopher Rainn Wilson (2023) (yes, that Rainn Wilson) suggests that “perhaps the key to healing the world’s chaos lies on a spiritual path.”
When someone identifies their true purpose, they stop living with futility and start living with intention. They tend to stop chasing money, status, promotion, Instagram followers, prestige, etc., and start pursuing things that really matter. Suddenly, what they do starts to matter less than how and why they do it (Sinek, 2011). When you push your soul to wrestle with the most difficult questions about the meaning of life, about your own death and finality, about the futility of so many things that our society values, this is spiritual fitness.
So what?
That’s great and all, but how do I employ this concept in my formation?
Set the Conditions
Spiritual fitness doesn’t scale like PT. It works best in small groups or one-on-one, where trust is present. Spiritual fitness cannot be outsourced. Trust might come from shared experience, by virtue of position, social media influence, or any of a number of other mechanisms. This requirement for trust and scale is why the Chaplain Corps or other counseling professionals, though absolutely essential, particularly in crisis, may not be the ideal solution for the regular spiritual development of all Soldiers.
We must also avoid developing our own spiritual fitness in isolation. We are social creatures by nature. While there is some value in personal reflection and mindfulness practices, spiritual fitness becomes so much more powerful in community. I believe this because when people really start to unpack their life’s purpose, personal interests tend to quickly lose merit, and concern for others drastically increases. As an old Māori proverb says: “What is the most important thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people!”
Identify Your Own “Why”
“He who has a ‘why’ can bear almost any ‘how.’” – Friedrich Nietzsche
The most important component of military operations orders is at the beginning of the execution paragraph: the commander’s intent. The commander’s intent enables geographically dispersed leaders to make appropriate decisions to achieve mission success when the detailed plan that follows inevitably goes to hell-in-a-handbasket. The same holds true in life. When we are guided by defined intent, we can make appropriate decisions to contribute to defined success. Stephen Covey (2004) calls it “beginning with the end in mind” and furthers that if you fail to do so “you’re not really living; you’re being lived.” To accomplish this, Simon Sinek (2011; 2017) has some great practical suggestions in his books, though they are best put into practice when you make it a conversation with others.
Personally, I like to ask “why.” I ask people why they do what they do, what gets them out of bed in the morning, what motivates them to excel, etc. The answer is usually some superficial goal at first: “to posture for promotion,” “to get a 500 on my AFT,” “to do whatever you tell me Drill Sergeant.” It’s a good start, but goals are not a purpose.
So I ask “why” again.
“Yeah, but what makes that goal so significant?” “Why put so much effort into it?” The responses become more insightful. “To build a successful career that my children can be proud of,” “to live up to my full potential,” “to make the world a better place.” Now we’re getting somewhere.
So I ask “why” again. And again.
Until we get to the point where they can confidently answer, “because there is no higher purpose than this.” Bingo. That’s a purpose that transcends death. If we reach a stalemate and can’t get to this point, then I encourage them to find some quiet time, grab a cup of coffee, and reflect before we re-engage later. Rarely does anyone unearth their life’s purpose in a single conversation. But once they do, then we can start challenging them to live their life in a new way that reflects commitment to that purpose.
Be the Change; Start a Ripple
The need for small group or personal interaction seems to compound the issue, especially for leaders responsible for hundreds and thousands of Soldiers. But leadership cascades. In a military chain of command, leaders at all echelons are typically charged with leading and developing about 4-6 subordinates. That’s manageable. And when they model spiritual development for their 4-6, the ripple grows to a wave.
The beauty of this interpersonal approach to spiritual fitness is that it doesn’t require a 7-figure DoD contract for equipment and hired professionals; it just requires people. The Army has a lot of those. Of course, setting a standard is not a one-time event. Discovering purpose during developmental counseling sessions is a good start, but beyond that, it must be continually reinforced. Regularly discuss your own personal “why,” and demonstrate how it drives your decisions. Let your organization’s shared “why” similarly drive discussions and decisions.
Go See the Chaplain
Chaplains remain an amazing resource for all Soldiers, regardless of religious affiliation. While some may hesitate to engage, that reluctance only deepens when leaders say, “Go see the chaplain,” but won’t do it themselves. Leaders have a powerful opportunity to set a precedent here.
You don’t claim a religious affiliation? Go anyway.
You’re Christian, but your assigned chaplain is Jewish? Go anyway.
Try it yourself. Then talk to your Soldiers about the experience. People are far more likely to engage in behaviors that are modeled for them first.
The Army’s New Spiritual Fitness Guide
On July 31st, the Army released a new 112-page Spiritual Fitness Guide (Hall, 2025) that is packed with principles, developmental stages, leader responsibilities, and resources for spiritual fitness. If you can wade through the excessive wordiness (and relentless hyphens), there are valuable takeaways for leaders at all levels. In particular, chapters four and five move beyond the usual “link up Soldiers with the right resources” approach and give leaders a road map to become that resource themselves. Chapter six then outlines the capabilities of the Chaplain Corps and how leaders can collaborate with Chaplains to strengthen an organizational spiritual fitness program. My only caution, which the guide supports, is to avoid the temptation to conduct spiritual fitness at any scale larger than a fire team.
Closing Thoughts
As with physical health, mental and spiritual health are best served proactively. The approach I’ve discussed may not be appropriate for individuals in a state of crisis. Please seek professional help where it is warranted.
Why do I keep calling it spiritual fitness when H2F doctrine (DA, 2020) calls it spiritual readiness? Perhaps it is semantic, but in practice, readiness implies a box that is either green or red. Fitness, however, has no endpoint; it encourages consistent growth, struggle, and discipline. The best leaders I’ve had never stopped investing in their Soldiers just because the box was green.
These are the musings of an untrained non-chaplain. The intent is to start a discussion to operationalize the spiritual domain. Let’s keep the discussion open.
Our Soldiers don’t need us to have all the answers; they need us to ask the right questions and walk beside them as they wrestle with them. Purpose isn’t something you issue; it’s something you discover. And when we build units rooted in shared purpose and identity, we don’t just prepare for combat; we build formations that endure.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the entities he represents.
Sources
Becker, E. (1997). The denial of death. Simon and Schuster.
Covey, S. R. (2004). The 7 habits of highly effective people: Powerful lessons in personal change. Free Press. Department of the Army. (2020). FM 7-22: Holistic health and fitness. Army Publishing Directorate.
English Standard Version Bible. (2001). Crossway Bibles.
Frankl, V. E. (1985). Man's search for meaning. Simon and Schuster.
Hall, D. M. (2025). Spiritual fitness guide. United States Army.
Sinek, S. (2011). Start with why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action. Penguin.
Sinek, S., Mead, D., & Docker, P. (2017). Find your why: A practical guide for discovering purpose for you and your team. Penguin.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). Adult activity: An overview. https://www.cdc.gov/physical-activity-basics/guidelines/adults.html
Wilson, R. (2023). Soul boom: Why we need a spiritual revolution. Hachette Go.
Johnny Bates is an Explosive Ordnance Disposal officer and is currently serving as an instructor in the Department of Physical Education at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Outside of work, he is a husband, father, coffee connoisseur, and smoked meat enthusiast.