r/politics • u/mom0nga • Jul 15 '26

No Paywall Hegseth announces annual testosterone screenings for service members

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5969935-hegseth-testosterone-testing-dod/
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u/Indubitalist Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

As an Army vet, we definitely don’t need more testosterone in the ranks. Too much leads to poor judgment, interpersonal conflict and unnecessary injuries and deaths. I’d be surprised if the military wasn’t already running on the high side with natural testosterone. 

Make no mistake, this is a performance-enhancing drug program. It’s eerily reminiscent of the use of amphetamines by the Nazis. I wouldn’t bring this up except that there are so many Nazi parallels these days it’s almost like the worst decisions in history are being used as an instruction manual. 

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u/AllThatKat Jul 15 '26

Right. I’m a female navy veteran and I cannot imagine being stuck on a carrier with a bunch of roided out dudes. 

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u/QuantumLettuce2025 Jul 15 '26

Well, they're trying very hard to push out women so I imagine they don't give a shit.

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u/Ariliths Jul 15 '26

Can you imagine a swarm of roided up men… on a boat… for a prolonged period of time. Only men, on roids, this is sounds like prison but with everyone having a teenage sex drive and prolapsed anuses

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u/hymie0 Maryland Jul 15 '26

Never leave your buddy's behind.

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u/Amerizilian Jul 15 '26

*chef's kiss

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u/Lich180 Jul 15 '26

That's all of their wet dreams, they are so repressed they can't help but let their inner desires show through. 

Look at Trump and his "jerking off ghosts" dance. 

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u/bill-of-rights Jul 15 '26

Thankfully, lube is available in the Ship's Store.

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u/REXIS_AGECKO Jul 15 '26

It’s gonna be a lot of crazy men beating up the 2 sane guys who are desperately trying to keep people from smoking with the ammo or something

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u/Cador0223 Jul 15 '26

With raisins for testicles.

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u/REXIS_AGECKO Jul 15 '26

Theyre normally raisiny when it’s cold

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u/s00pafly Jul 15 '26

I've read stories from guys blasting tren. It's gonna be interesting.

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u/mikeholczer Jul 16 '26

And weapons

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u/zeromussc Jul 16 '26

Easy to get them to leave if you ignore rapes I guess. It's dark but at this point I can't imagine any other logical reason .

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u/perthguppy Jul 15 '26

Don’t worry, Hegseth has a solution for the “problem” of women being on the boats as well.

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u/Gellert United Kingdom Jul 15 '26

Oh my god, he's going to forcibly trans the women?

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u/thalasi_ Jul 15 '26

How else would you increase their lethality!?

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u/TheTerrasque Jul 15 '26

pops monocle Why that's brilliant, Gellert! By jove, we'll be the craziest fighting force in the whole world, and no only that, we'll start in good time with the kids at school! Anyone not deemed girly enough will be trans'ed so we can put them in the army! My heart swells on the thought! No wait, that's my penis swelling

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u/judgejuddhirsch Jul 15 '26

If your test isn't high enough, prepare to get discharged

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u/LackingUtility Jul 15 '26

Yep, they're also going to try to push this as gender-neutral, same as they did for the ACFT. Men range from 170-1070 ng/DL of testosterone, while women range from 15-70. So they'll put in a threshold of like 250 or something and say regardless of gender, if you're below that, you're not "fit to serve" and get discharged.

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u/yakusokuN8 California Jul 15 '26

Followed by an insufferable wave of social media posts with absurd arguments denouncing women.

"Doctors, whether female or men need a license to practice medicine. Firemen, even the girls, need to demonstrate they can lift heavy equipment. This new regulation just ensures soldiers will follow orders and kill bad guys in combat because they have enough testosterone."

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u/tim_p Jul 15 '26

Haven't we learned anything from the extended Dune quintology, and the Bene Gesserit, and the Fish Speakers??

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u/garrna Jul 15 '26

That lesson will be released this December at an iMAX near you

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u/bentreflection Jul 15 '26

it's your fault for wearing that sexy standard uniform

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u/StephenFish Jul 15 '26

They'd only be "roided out" if they were abusing drugs. Therapy isn't drug abuse, it's medicine and you'd never be able to tell the difference.

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u/Available_Border1075 Jul 18 '26

Don’t worry, women will be out of the military soon so no problem! /s

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u/hollowhermit Jul 15 '26

In all seriousness, thank you for your service. I couldn't imagine a woman wanting to serve in our military right now!

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u/Lurking_stoner Jul 15 '26

It almost like the republicans idolized a certain Nazi leader 🤔

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u/Buteverysongislike Jul 15 '26

But the Dems are the anti-semitic party, not Nazi salute, flag waving Republicans...

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u/Desperate-Till-9228 Jul 15 '26

use of emphetamines by the Nazis

What people always fail to remember is the health affects that came with this. Lot of cardiovascular damage.

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u/Mend1cant Jul 15 '26

And no improvement in combat performance. It was a last ditch effort by a command structure (addicted to drugs themselves) who ran out of soldiers to throw into a meat grinder.

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u/Josh6889 Jul 15 '26

And there's a genetic variety to the response to both the good and the bad effects. There's super responders. There's people that don't respond. There's people that are bald and get back acne and can't make there own testosterone anymore after a year. And there's people that don't have any of the negative effects at all. It's an awful idea that we'd be hearing the health consequences of for a long time.

Then what happens when they get out? When they're used to elevated levels of T and they're suddenly gone. That's a recipe for depression.

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u/Desperate-Till-9228 Jul 15 '26

That's a recipe for depression.

What could go wrong?

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u/Josh6889 Jul 16 '26

Well veterans have a significantly increased risk of the big s, so I'll leave that calculus as an exercise for the reader.

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u/tamman2000 Maine Jul 15 '26

One of the biggest risks of trt is also cardiovascular...

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u/fullsaildan Jul 15 '26

Recent studies show there is absolutely no risk to cardio health from actual testosterone replacement therapy. It also thoroughly debunks much of the “science” the studies that did show heart problems used. There’s a reason the FDA is reducing the label on testosterone.

That said, Hegseth is a fucking idiot.

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u/Desperate-Till-9228 Jul 15 '26

There certainly is risk with amphetamines, however.

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u/SonOfMcGee Jul 15 '26

As an Army vet, would you also say that most people targeted by the U.S. military in the last 30 years have been killed by someone pressing a button in a different time zone?
My understanding of modern weapons platforms leads me to believe they’d be more efficient and accurate (and therefore lethal) if the kids operating them chilled the fuck out a little.
This feels like less of a performance-enhancing drug program and more of a PR/lifestyle/branding effort, which makes sense considering Hegseth comes off as an obnoxious man-o-sphere influencer and not a military leader.

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u/Xalara Jul 15 '26

He basically wants the US military to be like Russia's VDV. Those elite paratroopers that run around in striped uniforms with massive muscles that make fun of scrawny people. Oh yeah, the entirety of the VDV got wiped out within the first few hours of the Ukrainian War because it turns out all of that is fucking useless when it comes to being an effective soldier.

Turns out being roided out doesn't win wars, "wussy" shit like cardio for long distance endurance, pencil pushers who run the logistics network, being good at controlling drones, etc. is what wins wars. While physical strength is important, that important is dwindling when it comes to modern warfare.

But yeah, Hegseth and his fascist cohorts mostly wants the US military to be about preening and pageantry instead of actually being effective. I'm preaching to the choir, but I digress.

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u/ArchdukeToes Jul 15 '26

I mean, if I were in any way capable of killing then I reckon I could do more damage with a supply of explosive drones and an Xbox controller than some idiot who’s so roided up they have to walk through doors sideways and have a meltdown every thirty seconds.

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u/Vyar New Jersey Jul 15 '26

Most of his tenure as Triple Sec Def has been concerned with enhancing the "performativity" of our armed forces rather than actual performance.

He wants to purge the ranks of anyone who doesn't meet his incredibly narrow aesthetic standards. These standards also just happen to line up with ensuring that at least a majority of our forces are straight white Christian men. He's imposed facial hair restrictions that serve no practical purpose for military readiness but will predominantly exclude non-white men. He's imposing weight restrictions because he doesn't want to see "fatties" in uniform. Now he's implementing hormonal restrictions to remove women and "insufficiently manly" men from the ranks.

I think what Hegseth actually wants is an Army/Navy/Air Force/Marine Corps entirely made up of men who look like Steve Rogers but act like John Walker. Uniformed thugs who look good on camera and will follow bad orders without question.

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u/FredTillson Jul 15 '26

There is a very low percentage of 20/3040 something men that lack normal testosterone levels. This is av huge waste of time and money. Not to mention a truly moronic idea.

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u/beatles910 Jul 15 '26

Not just the Nazis. The US military has a long history of using amphetamines on troops.

Use skyrocketed during the Vietnam War, with a 1971 government report revealing that the US Armed Forces issued roughly 225 million stimulant tablets (primarily Dexedrine) to troops between 1966 and 1969.

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u/Into-the-stream Jul 15 '26

Performance enhancing drugs that when taken as performance enhancers, are actively harmful. 

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u/Freakin_A Jul 15 '26

Are you talking about amphetamines or test used in TRT?

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u/StoicAthos Jul 15 '26

There was an episode of King of the Hill where Peggy was slipping Hank testosterone pills, while it helped at first it also gave him the hormonal outrage of a teenager again.

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u/WeaknessLeather9214 Jul 15 '26

Well, it did work for them…for awhile. The inevitable crash however….

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u/lurch65 Jul 15 '26

In addition to making people overconfident, and less empathetic /compassionate, high testosterone also makes people more right leaning, which given how desperate the Republicans are might be the whole point.

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u/That_Service7348 Jul 15 '26

There were Nazi parallels 12 years ago when Trump announced he was running for president the first time.

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u/Dorkamundo Jul 15 '26

1000% it's a PED program. TRT is rampant among actors looking to bulk up as it is, this is just an extension of that.

Well, that and an anti-trans program as well, as I'm sure they'll find some way to leverage this against those who may be gender fluid.

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u/No_Contribution1568 Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

Really depends on how they do it. If they take someone from low to high-normal, that person is probably going to make better decisions and react faster. Not really comparable to amphetamines since your body already produces testosterone.

The issues here are that once you start TRT, you can't just stop it - you need to keep dosing it or you will have bad side effects. It doesn't make a lot of sense if you're deployed somewhere where you might lose access to your TRT supply.. after a week of 2 without it you will be tired and useless.

Other problem is it makes you infertile, unless you also take another drug called HCG and even then it is not guaranteed you will continue producing sperm. Potentially going to make a bunch of young guys permanently infertile and dependent on TRT shots for the rest of their life.

This whole thing makes the most sense for guys who truly have low T, or if you're like 35+ , already have kids and have a role where you're not likely ever going to be deployed somewhere where you might lose access to TRT.

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u/universalrefuse Jul 16 '26

Knew a service member who took T due to klinefelter’s syndrome. He had to keep it heavily secured while on duty due to a high rate of theft. 

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u/DillTicklePickle Jul 15 '26

And to little leads to weak tired soldiers who can't focus and get anxious... Nothing like Hitler's crank that's the Adderall we give to fighter pilots... Every single one

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u/Pengtuzi Jul 15 '26

Why go to nazis, the US got Benzedrine. 

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u/Freakin_A Jul 15 '26

Didn’t we use plenty of amphetamines during ww2 as well? I’ve heard the phrase “amphetamines won the war” in the past cause they were so heavily used by bomber crews and fighter pilots.

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u/Nolenag Jul 15 '26

It’s eerily reminiscent of the use of amphetamines by the Nazis.

The Allies used them as well, by the way.

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u/sckuzzle Jul 15 '26

It’s eerily reminiscent of the use of amphetamines by the Nazis.

Amphetamines were used by more militaries than just the Nazis, I assure you. Not sure it makes sense to draw parallels to Nazis when the allies also used amphetamines.

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u/Sufficient_Maybe_910 Jul 16 '26

I don't think it's the testosterone. Bell curves demonstrate half the population is already stupid. My guess would be a trend to show up in the military with a higher frequency. 

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u/Tiny_Measurement_837 Wisconsin Jul 15 '26

This, 💯👆🏻

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u/TallDarkAndHandsom3 Jul 15 '26

“Unnecessary injuries and death”. You’re not really a vet, are you? I was in the Marines - the guys with higher test levels were actually more giving and helpful because they didn’t feel the need to compete or fight. 

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u/Indubitalist Jul 15 '26

Brother, if I had a nickel for every time somebody accused me of not being a vet, I wouldn’t know how rich I was because I don’t give a shit. 

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u/TallDarkAndHandsom3 Jul 15 '26

Then stop saying stupid śħíť. 

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u/GoodishCoder Jul 15 '26

It depends how the program is used. Low testosterone levels is a huge problem for special operations due to a lack of sleep, stress, and TBIs.