The U.S. Army now includes what is called a Spiritual Fitness section as part of their mandatory Comprehensive Soldier Fitness test.
Launched in the fall of 2009, the Spiritual Fitness test is what the Army calls part of a Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program used by the Army to enable "soldiers, family members and Army civilians to more easily manage various physical and psychological challenges in their personal and professional lives along the five specific dimensions of strength: physical, emotional, social, spiritual and family," according to Army spokesman Lt. Col. Freddie Mack in a prepared statement.
The Army says that part of the program was created to help reduce bouts of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD, and over 900,000 soldiers have taken part of that program.
This article appears in Jan 13-19, 2011.