An Infantry Marine’s Perspective on Army Human Performance

Ray Cossio

We've talked about having Ray on the podcast for over a year. He brings a unique perspective as a former infantry Marine NCO turned strength and conditioning coach. And more importantly, he always focuses his insight on the real issues. The military human performance space is more about building the right culture than dialing in the Xs and Os of workouts, and he clearly knows that.

Ramon “Ray” Cossio is a 12-year veteran of the Marine Corps, where he served as an infantry squad leader, platoon sergeant, and martial arts-instructor trainer. During his time in service, he deployed to Afghanistan in 2005 and participated in Operation Red Wings, Iraq in 2006 during the “Surge”, and once again to Afghanistan in 2011 to Sangin, Helmand Province. For his service, Mr. Cossio was awarded two Combat Action Ribbons, three Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, and a Bronze Star with "V."

Following his time in the Marine Corps he received his bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science from the University of Houston where he participated in internships with the UH Sports Performance and the Texas Obesity Research Clinic. He then went on to earn his master’s degree in Kinesiology from the University of Texas where he conducted research on e-cigarettes’ effect on blood vessels and was a member of the Cardiovascular and Aging Laboratory.

His professional experience has included roles as a coach, programmer, and operations manager for private “multimodal” gyms in Austin and Houston, TX. In 2018 he began working as a contracted strength and conditioning coach for the Army’s H2F-Lite program where he had the privilege of working with 40 th BEB, 2-37 AR, and 1AD DSB.

Following his time as a coach Mr. Cossio was hired in 2021 as the 11th ADA H2F Program Director, and he continues in that role today.