JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, Va. – A new Warrior Restaurant, “America’s Kitchen,” opened here June 12 and includes a first-ever Armed Forces Wellness Center satellite site inside the dining facility.
The new location of the AFWC supports the Army Food Program Strategy which captures comprehensive solutions to support food ecosystems across installations with increased access and flexible feeding options. The transformative effects of co-locating the AFWC within America’s Kitchen include:
- A food service ecosystem that is synchronized and nested in sound policy,
- Increased tactical feeding capabilities which optimizes organizations to execute in large-scale combat operations, and
- A modernized 21st century campus-style dining experience that meets the Soldiers where they live, work, and train, and administers healthy food service operations while ensuring a sustainable commercial/industrial base postured for subsistence.
The concept of co-locating an AFWC in a Warrior Restaurant was introduced in 2021 during a forum aimed at enhancing readiness through nutrition.
The forum, called the Army’s Commitment to Improving Overall Nutrition or ACTION, was attended by leaders from around the service including then-Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Grinston, and then-Sgt. Maj. Jimmy Sellers, HQDA, G-4 sergeant major, now the command sergeant major of Army Materiel Command.
During the forum, Grinston and Sellers both recognized the importance of prevention resources as critical for changing the dining and wellness culture across the Army.
They identified AFWC capabilities and how they can work with Army food service partners to better integrate healthy food choices within the environment, develop targeted courses of action to support training and communicate AFWC referral criteria for Soldiers in jeopardy of falling outside of Army Body Composition Program standards.
In addition to the co-located AFWC, the modernized $21.5 million “America’s Kitchen” also includes several made-to-order stations, giving service members healthy and fresh food options, as well as incorporating a culinary training center within its space.
Since 2008, AFWC’s have supported healthy behavior change through evidence-based health education, health coaching, and advanced fitness testing technology. Active-duty service members, family members, retirees and DoD civilians are all authorized to use wellness centers through a provider referral, unit leader referral or self-referral.
The services provided at an AFWC help deliver ready combat formations by targeting the risk factors most likely to result in chronic disease, injury and/or performance issues. AFWCs are a streamlined and standardized health promotion program based in the community and play an essential role in service member readiness.
AFWCs provide services across six standardized core programs to include: Personalized health assessment through the health assessment review, state of the art fitness assessments, healthy nutrition education, stress management, general wellness education and tobacco free living.
Assessments include metabolic, VO2 (cardiorespiratory fitness) and body composition testing along with individual health coaching. Based on assessment results, clients receive personalized caloric targets to promote the achievement of healthy target body weights and exercise prescriptions based on individualized goals.
Service members who participate in AFWC services have seen improvements in their cardiorespiratory fitness and body composition, according to AFWC test results. Leaders at all levels can empower their personnel to optimize their health by recommending them to an AFWC. The services provided are poised to prepare them for the challenges of today’s military while decreasing the risk of disease and injury.
For more information about the Armed Forces Wellness Centers refer to: https://ph.health.mil/organization/hpw/Pages/ArmyWellnessCenters.aspx
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