PENTAGON — After years of clinical studies and field testing, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael A. Grinston has announced that the Army would begin a rigorous, six-event mental fitness test.
“For far too long, we’ve treated mental fitness as an additional duty,” Grinston said. “With this new test, we’ll be able to evaluate the mental health and intellectual competence that soldiers need to survive in combat.”
Called the Soldier’s Combat Holistic Army Readiness Test, or SHART, the test will reduce moral injuries, encourage sacrificial decision making, and prepare soldiers better for the kinds of moral and ethical challenges they’ll see in combat than the current system of assembly-line education and pencil whipped evaluations.
“I know that it will be challenging to adopt to this new test,” Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. James C. McConville noted. “But it’s important that we grow and change as an organization. This will never replace important warrior skills like throwing a weighted ball, but we hope it will paint a fuller picture of individual soldiers instead of physical fitness tests as a single point of failure.”
