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/WalterPecky Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

I know the answer to the question... But is any of this based on science... Or are the Joe Rogans of the world dictating official policy by gut feelings like "more testosterone means you are a warrior" 

11

u/vahntitrio Minnesota Jul 15 '26

How does testosterone even help in todays battle scenarios? Do you need to be pumped up to operate a missile battery?

11

u/WalterPecky Jul 15 '26

It's probably some bullshit like "more testosterone" equals "less empathy".

1

u/ProfessionalITShark Jul 15 '26

Which might not be the case actually...

1

u/Shouldabeenswallowed Jul 15 '26

I've never cried more in my life since I've been on trt. Apparently I had gone cold/numb over however many years of tanked test and didn't realize it until I started FEELING things again a few months in.

3

u/CaptainAwesome8 Jul 15 '26

If this is truly actual TRT given to men below about 300ng/dl then it’s beneficial in tons of ways and just brings them up to high-end-of-normal ranges. Would help everything from recovery to cognition or fatigue.

If this is a slightly enhanced “TRT” sort of program, then it would still just be better recovery and even stuff like bone strength. There’s probably a bit of an argument that SOF operators would benefit, as would a decent bit of infantry. I mean, many are already on it anyways, so it wouldn’t surprise me if this was essentially trying to, for lack of a better term, “pardon” them for it. But it’s a similar argument as giving pilots things like adderall or modafinil. Can’t have people dozing off in $500M planes.

I don’t say this as support of the action to be clear, just to answer your question a bit.

1

u/Pleasant-Relative-48 Jul 16 '26

I think you put more thought into your answer than ol' Petey put into the actual plan.

1

u/RealTopGeazy Jul 16 '26

Energy, motivation, confidence. Essential to any task