Working Group Transforms to a GSOF Committee: A New Chapter for Health and Human Performance in SOF

A message from MSOFC leadership

MSOFC is proud to announce that the Health and Human Performance (HHP) Working Group has officially been elevated to a standing Committee of the Global SOF Foundation (GSOF).

For those of us at the Military Special Operations Family Collaborative, this is more than an organizational milestone — it’s validation of something we’ve believed for a long time: that human performance isn’t a peripheral concern for the SOF community. It’s mission-critical. As a formal GSOF Committee, HHP now brings together a uniquely powerful constellation of stakeholders, from operators and medical professionals to researchers, industry partners, and family advocates — each essential to advancing what we call the human weapon system.

In its inaugural year, we’re guiding the Committee’s work around a clear and urgent need: building the relationships that close the gaps between SOF leadership, industry, and policy. Our goal is simple to state and hard to execute — turn conversation into coordination, and coordination into advocacy, for the force, the family, and the SOF legacy.

To learn more about how this Committee came to be, you can read about the earlier work of the GSOF Working Group — including previous meeting reports — here.

HHP Committee Priorities & 2026–2027 Projections

The urgency of this mission is matched by the momentum we’re already seeing behind it.

To meaningfully close the gaps between leadership, industry, and policy, we’re launching three focus groups under the HHP Committee — each designed to drive research, dialogue, and real, actionable deliverables. By Modern Warfare Week (MWW) in November, we expect every focus group to have meaningful material ready to bring to Command and other key decision-makers.

These three focus groups will tackle:

• Chronic Stress in SOF — examining the physiological and psychological toll of sustained operational tempo, and what evidence-based support can look like.
• SOF-Peculiar Innovation and Dual-Use HHP Pathways — identifying performance solutions unique to the SOF mission set, and where dual-use technology can accelerate progress.
• METL Implications on HHP — exploring how mission-essential task list requirements intersect with, and depend on, human performance readiness.

Each group confronts a distinct challenge. Focus group work will anchor actions needed for impact. All three groups will begin meeting by early August, with progress updates delivered to the full Committee by MWW in November.

Meet the Focus Group Leads

None of this happens without people willing to step up and drive the work forward. We’re grateful to the following Committee members for leading these critical conversations:

• Chronic Stress in SOF — Alison Messick (alison.m.messick@gmail.com)
• SOF-Peculiar Innovation and Dual-Use HHP Pathways — Lead to be confirmed and announced soon
• METL Implications on HHP — Tyler Christiansen (Tyler.Christiansen@gdit.com)

Committee Structure & Membership

This Committee is necessarily interwoven in the broader GSOF mission and community. That means participation requires all members to hold active GSOF partnership or individual membership status. Individual membership is just $25/year — a small commitment, for ensuring every voice at the table is invested in the larger GSOF community this work serves.

The full Committee will meet a minimum of four times annually — twice in person and twice virtually. We designed this year’s cadence deliberately, to build strong relational and operational foundations before scaling up the work ahead.

Join Us in This Work

We see this Committee’s transformation as more than a change in title — it’s an invitation. We’re inviting leadership, industry, and every member of the SOF community to help us redefine how this community approaches health and human performance, not as an afterthought, but as central to driving the human factor of lethality, force readiness, and family resilience.

If you have expertise, insight, or a stake in this mission, we want you at the table. Whether that means joining a focus group, contributing your perspective, or becoming a GSOF member to participate, we’d love your voice in shaping what comes next.

For feedback, partnership or membership questions, or other information, please reach out to us directly:

KaLea Lehman — KaLea.Lehman@msofc.org
Chad White — cwhite@gsof.org