Unique Challenges of Human Performance Technology and Tactical Athletes

One of the areas of focus of the Tactical Athlete Leadership Board is assessing how human performance technology, often proven in the sporting domain, can be leveraged in the tactical space to improve the health and performance of warfighters. Throughout our board conversations, it has been identified that this is not as easy as simply implementing the same solutions used by a professional sports team across an entire brigade, a wing or even a single vessel.

As previously established, one of the concerns raised comes from the transfer and storage of warfighter performance data on data clouds, especially when the data needs to be sent to the cloud in order for algorithms to run and insights to be generated. 

Scalability of solutions is another area of consideration. An NFL roster and a full practice squad may top out at 70 athletes; MLB teams are allowed to have roughly 165-190 athletes under contract counting minor league players; NHL teams are limited to 50 contracts spread across various leagues. None of these roster sizes come close to some military formations, where an Army brigade can number over 4000 soldiers, an Air Force wing could contain hundreds to thousands of personnel, and the largest Navy ship berthing over 3000 sailors. 

While this vast increase in personnel under the care of a performance team is a challenge for all human performance programs (something the Army’s H2F initiative is working through today), when it comes to human performance technology, a similar implementation might not come from the sporting world, but instead from industrial athletes.

One use case shared in TA-LB discussions was the usage of wearables for inventory control with large-scale e-commerce and transportation companies. The implementation of these wearables makes workers' lives easier and improves overall productivity and efficiency in a warehouse. However, the storage, maintenance and power charging of the devices requires a dedicated space at the facility, with associated personnel to manage that space.

This use case has dependencies on infrastructure to support those needs and it also benefits from the structure of a shift cycle, as a worker will not always have a wearable on their person. Comparing this to the needs of a tactical athlete, depending on the purpose of the device, there may be a need for a monitoring device to be returned to storage, as some of the desires for wearables and warfighter performance depend on continuous monitoring.

That approach offers its own challenges. To avoid possible gaps in the data, charging a device needs to be considered strategically. For example, if the goal is to monitor sleep, a warfighter should not be charging the device at night. However, this leads to an additional task of finding time to charge a device during the daytime, while also being able to continue with regular duties. Some wearable devices on the market today, such as the Whoop band, do offer the means to clip an external battery on the device while still using it, allowing for the device to recharge without the potential loss of data.

Operating in the field accentuates some of these concerns even further, where access to power to charge as well as the ability to sync data may be limited. Studies continue across the military in an attempt to better understand the demands that field operations have on warfighter performance and health, so being able to capture data, analyze and intervene in this environment is an important goal for the continued readiness of both individuals and larger groups. 

Looking across the human performance technology landscape, there may not be any silver bullet devices that fit the various environments and demands of all tactical domains. However, continued advancements in battery life and storage capabilities, as well as the continued development of technological infrastructure may ensure that the needs of warfighters are better served in future generations of human performance technology.