Objective Neurocognitive Assessment of Stress and Recovery in Military Personnel: The NPRO-8 MIL Two-Tier Screening Framework

Prolonged military deployments expose personnel to sustained vigilance, disrupted sleep, uncertainty, repeatedhigh-consequence decisions, separation from social support, and restricted opportunities for recovery. Militaryorganizations routinely monitor physical fitness and medical readiness, but stress-related neurocognitivefunctioning remains assessed primarily through self-report, observation, performance outcomes, and clinicalcontact. These sources are indispensable, yet they may not reveal the physiological effort required to maintainperformance or the capacity to recover after cognitive demand. This paper introduces NPRO-8 MIL, a militaryadaptation of the NPRO-8 Core mental-fitness screening framework. NPRO-8 MIL combines behavioral performancewith functional near-infrared spectroscopy during five structured cognitive task modules. Eight NeuroProbes informthree higher-order pillars: Stress Load, Recovery Capacity, and Functional Impact. The underlying NPRO-8 Core hascompleted internal validation through 178 deterministic tests, 32,000 Monte Carlo examinations, 50,850 repeatedrobustness classifications, and parameter-sensitivity analyses. These findings establish computational coherenceand predictable behavior, while prospective military reliability, external-validity, and predictive-validity studiesremain necessary. Because fNIRS cannot feasibly be administered to every member of a large military population, atwo-tier pathway is proposed: brief population-level digital screening followed by targeted NPRO-8 MIL assessment.Ethical safeguards addressing voluntariness, privacy, command access, purpose limitation, and protection fromunauthorized selection or disciplinary use are integral to the framework. NPRO-8 MIL is presented as a screening andlongitudinal monitoring approach, not a psychiatric diagnostic or autonomous fitness-for-duty instrument.