Open Call for Innovative Defense-Related Dual-Purpose Technologies/Solutions with a Clear Air Force Stakeholder Need

The 2018 RAND report on health promotion and disease prevention highlighted that approximately 66 percent of service members were overweight or obese according the the body mass index standard. The study, which featured 18,000 service members, closely aligns with the 63.1 percent of overweight airmen in the Air Force. As a result of the increase in overweight and non-deployable service members, the Department of Defense implemented a policy that has been labeled “deploy or get out�. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan highlighted that since the policies implementation, an estimated 21,000 non-deployable troops were removed from military service. Shanahan emphasized to members of the Senate Armed Services Committee during a hearing on the fiscal 2020 budget request, “A key element of strengthening our military and increasing lethality is ensuring our warfighters achieve established physical, mental, and security vetting standards.� Not only is it important for airmen to stay fit in order to maintain the Air Force’s end strength, but financially the Air Force cannot afford to lose airmen that cost thousands to millions of dollars to train. The solution, TrueCoach’s remote online coaching platform.