Latest / Combat Veteran News / Hegseth’s ”Steroids For Everyone” Policy Has Some Problems...

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Hegseth’s ”Steroids For Everyone” Policy Has Some Problems... · Combat Veteran News

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Anyone that served in Iraq and
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Afghanistan knows that meeting a Navy
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SEAL or Green Beret with biceps as thick
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as most people's quads is just a cannon
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event. Special Operations guys on
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steroids is as common as supply losing
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your hand receipt. But, the problem is
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when the Secretary of Defense seems to
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think that these special operators
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flaunting the rules is actually should
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be everybody. And I swear to God, we are
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now trying to hormone supplement the
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entire US military. That's right.
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The women are getting jacked, too. Take
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a look at this one. So, this is actually
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a real for real story that's not a
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parody.
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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, in
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order to distract from losing the war in
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Iran, has said that the military is now
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going to start screening for
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testosterone deficiency.
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Now,
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I want to point out a couple of things.
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First, is that testosterone deficiency
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is, in fact, a real uh disorder, but
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it's treated in the last maybe five or
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six years as essentially being steroids
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but with a prescription. Because, well,
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it's normal in human biology for men in
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their 30s and 40s to start to have a
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gradual decline in testosterone. It's
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not a problem. It's the way human the
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human body operates. Now, Hegseth has
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announced that the US military will
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start testing the testosterone levels of
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service members in what he described as
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an initiative quote about restoring and
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optimizing their capabilities. But, in a
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post on X captioned quote the high-T
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department, which I want to point out
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that uh
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well,
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treating a specific medical disease is
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not necessarily well,
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is clearly a pretext because he's
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literally saying we want to become the
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high-T department. Uh said he's
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authorizing the screening program for
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troops to ensure quote you have the
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right testosterone levels to operate at
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your absolute best.
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Those 30 and older will be screened
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annually.
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And those who are younger can request
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testing.
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Troops with low levels will be offered
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voluntary testosterone replacement
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therapy. Comes in in again uh
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He says, quote, "We owe our warriors the
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absolute best medical care in the world,
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and this program delivers on that
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obligation." asterisk
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Quote, "Taking Taking care of your
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long-term health means ensuring you
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remain strong, resilient, and capable,
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not just for your next deployment, but
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for the rest of your life, so you can
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thrive long after taking off the
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uniform." Now,
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uh
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what I want to point out
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is that
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the policy
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is both nonsensical from a policy
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perspective, but also has deep problems
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break baked into it that are going to
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actually make combat effectiveness
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worse.
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Uh
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this
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is what I mean. So, what is actual
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testosterone replacement therapy?
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Uh oftentimes men, and sometimes young
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men,
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probably as a function uh
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of uh poor diets and other poorly
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monitored chronic health conditions,
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oftentimes young men in in today's day
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and age have lower testosterone levels
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than men of the past. But, this can mean
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that those men have a disadvantage in
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terms of muscle mass, energy,
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uh and that could be an issue if you're
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in combat. This is according to a
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professor of urology at Baylor College
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of Medicine. Quote, "You have to be
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careful not to just give someone
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testosterone unless they they do have
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some kind of symptoms."
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"Benefits of hormone replacement
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therapy," explained the physician, "are
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increased muscle mass, decreased fat
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deposition, decreased risk for
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depression, and over time it may help
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with bone mineral density." Um but, he
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warned, "If young men do take
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testosterone, it can make them
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infertile." He says, "You've got to be
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careful. If someone's in the
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reproductive years, you may need to make
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sure they understand it's going to make
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you infertile." This is pretty clear,
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actually. Now, I want to point out that
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right there, right there,
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that should be that should make this a
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no go.
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Um offering a uh
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we're going
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opportunity
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for
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uh service members to sterilize
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themselves is already kind of screwed
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up, okay? And the
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like there are risks intrinsic to
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service, but the military is not out
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here using service members as firing
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squad uh
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and knowing that you're going to do this
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to a certain percentage of the
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population that's going to harm them in
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this direct way and offering the
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opportunity to have that harm is already
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kind of screwed up.
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A wide variety I mean it it just in a
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tremendous number of ways, right?
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But even excluding that, I want to point
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out that the actual wording of the
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policy
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is actually
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even more insane because
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the
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policy
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is actually that
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uh
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the
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Take a look. It is that there will be
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mandatory screening for testosterone
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deficiency
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for all active duty and reserve
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component component personnel 30 and
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older.
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Well, that includes women. So, we're
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going to also your tax dollars are going
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to be screening women for testosterone
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deficiency and then insanely enough
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offering them hormone replacement
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therapy. I.E.
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So, one there's the philosophical
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bizareness of saying listen we did a
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test, we know you identify as male, but
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you're not actually male enough, but
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maybe you'll feel more
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like man if we give you hormones to make
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you
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more aligned with the gender you
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identify as. So, we've horseshoe back
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around to being super woke and actually
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offering now we're just offering
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military women the opportunity
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to take hormones to do some
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gender embrace some gender fluidity.
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And I don't really have feelings one way
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or another about that, but I'm going to
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talk about the logistics of it in a
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second.
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But
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well
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>> [laughter]
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>> this isn't exactly uh this isn't exactly
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beating back the wokeness. Now, we're
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going to talk about two problems. The
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first is being on testosterone. Is it
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actually a good idea? Well, we just
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talked about the fact that morally it's
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kind of twisted to sterilize a large
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portion of
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uh members. Uh but also I want to point
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out that there's a lot of anecdotal
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evidence that steroid use and
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testosterone supplementation changes
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your perspective around aggression. Uh
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the most notorious war crime of
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Afghanistan the uh Staff Sergeant Robert
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Bales Bales' killing of 16 Afghan
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civilians um in part, according to
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Bales' own testimony when he played
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guilty, he said, "Quote, there's not a
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good reason in this world why I did the
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horrible things I did." He maintained he
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did not recall setting the bodies of
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those he killed on fire, but admitted
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the evidence was clear he had. Quote, he
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said he had taken steroids solely to be
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quote huge and jacked and blamed them
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quote definitely for increasing his
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irritability and anger. Right? Now, you
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combine the fact that Bales also notably
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had a TBI from a previous deployment and
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almost certainly had PTSD. Um
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Now, he had also been drinking heavily
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against Army policy and also had been
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taking methylquin, which is known to
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cause significant uh cognitive side
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effects. But
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a key part of this cocktail that caused
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this notorious war crime was his use of
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androgenic steroids like testosterone.
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Okay? Now, if you put a million troops
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on testosterone, there's also just a
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logistic problem. Not just buying an
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absolute boatload of test, but also
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remember if you're on TRT, you have to
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get regular screening. You have to do
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some baseline screening 6 to 12 weeks
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after starting and then 6 to 12 months
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of screening after you're stable, which
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means you're going to have to screen
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those people 20 plus times over the
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course of a military career.
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But also, if you put someone on
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testosterone, not only are you making
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them infertile, potentially making them
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crazy, but TRT massively increases the
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risk of developing blood clots like DVT
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and pulmonary embolism. What this is is
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because testosterone triggers your body
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to produce a bunch of red blood cells
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and it well, your blood I'm going to use
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the non-scientific term, gets thicker.
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It becomes more prone to clotting,
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increases your risk of DVT and pulmonary
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embolism. Well, here's the problem is
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that there's actually a lot of
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evidence that the US military,
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particularly combat troops in cramped
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quarters for long periods of time,
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uh
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are at risk of DVT. Think about a pilot
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exposed to high G forces, literally
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pushing their blood to pool in their
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uh feet or in their head, right? That's
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really dangerous at baseline and it and
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it becomes more dangerous when you pump
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them full of TRT. But also, service
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members who are wounded are at massive
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risk of DVT. According to one study,
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they looked at 300 patients, average age
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25 years, 98% male with a severe combat
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injury, mostly penetrating injuries,
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uh with high risk of mortality.
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Uh and they found that actually
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a uh embolism or DVT
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um
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was high. [laughter] In fact, in one
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case, 10% of combat casualties developed
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DVT, uh pulmonary embolism occurring in
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7.1%
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when they had to receive massive
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transfusions, i.e. a large bleeding
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injury, the the rate was even higher up
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to 26% one in five. So,
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that is already kind of a pretty bad
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sign that you're going to take something
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that is going to make combat wounds much
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more lethal and you're going to widely
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distribute it among the force. Again, if
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you have not been living under a rock,
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you have probably seen combat medicine
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in Ukraine involves a lot of tourniquets
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and boy howdy guys, if you're at risk of
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dying of a clot, a tourniquet is going
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to speed run that.
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So, we're already killing
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we're already working to make our
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enemies
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the efforts to wound our troops more
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lethal.
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We've made our troops potentially more
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irritable and aggressive, which sounds
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fine.
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We've increased the risks of them
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developing blood clots, right?
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And
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even more troubling though
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is what happens when you don't.
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You see,
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if you again haven't been living under a
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war or under a rock, you may know that
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in the Ukraine war
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infantrymen, combat troops spend huge
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amounts of time in position. In fact,
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some soldiers remained in their
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positions for 200 plus days without
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replacement struggling immensely to get
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resupplied, right? Those of us that have
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been doing the fundraisers for the
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Ukrainian troops know that one of their
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their most dire needs is actually ground
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and air robots that can conduct
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resupply. And we're talking about 6 to 8
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kg of payload can be flown to these
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positions in any one day. That's
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essentially food, water, maybe a spare
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battery, maybe ammunition, okay? So, I
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it's the same reason that you can't have
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diabetics in the military
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is because if you're insulin dependent,
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it's not that we don't like you, it's
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that we cannot reliably get insulin,
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which often has to be refrigerated, we
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can't reliably get it to a forward
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position like what the Ukrainians
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experience every single day. Again,
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imagine spending 200 plus days being
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resupplied by drone at a hole in the
11:47
ground, okay?
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In that circumstance, you are not going
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to get your testosterone. Well, here's
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the problem. What happens when you don't
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get your testosterone? Well, remember,
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you're taking exogenous testosterone, it
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can often reduce your body's ability to
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produce its own. Sometimes that comes
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back, sometimes it doesn't. And when you
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look at what it does, it creates a
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whiplash. You will develop you are
12:11
likely to develop fatigue and low
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energy, mood changes and irritability,
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decreased libido, loss of muscle mass
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and strength, brain fog, sleep
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disruption, weight gain and body
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composition changes, right? And
12:25
But in one other study, they actually
12:27
found that there was also a massive
12:28
increase in what's called AMS, aging
12:30
male syndrome. This includes increases
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in sweating, sleep issues, fatigue,
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joint muscular pain, irritability,
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anxiety, nervousness, depressive mood,
12:37
and feeling burned out, decrease in
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libido, erectile I mean I
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I mean again, I don't worry about the
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sexual function stuff, other than kind
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of the morality of again, sterilizing
12:47
troops, but also putting them
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creating a dependency. They'll develop a
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chemical dependency on testosterone that
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again, they're going to have to go
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through those symptoms to resolve it.
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But again, here's the problem.
12:59
Is that
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the Hex set is looking at the
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the Navy SEAL in Afghanistan as the
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model for what all soldiers should be.
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But a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan was is
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was militarily unique in that they had
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very short duration missions, right? And
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then they would almost always have
13:17
continual access to top-tier medical
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care, right? They would have massive
13:22
resources behind them, and they would
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funnel it into these individual raids or
13:25
individual attacks that
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while there are some troops that operate
13:30
that way in modern wars like
13:31
Afghanistan, we're seeing now that
13:34
infantry should be prepared to fight
13:36
like a Ukrainian, right? And that means
13:40
that you will no longer be a Navy SEAL
13:43
who does a 6-hour raid in a terrorist
13:45
compound where if you get shot, you will
13:47
be in a surgical center within minutes,
13:50
right? You're talking 60 minutes, 100 at
13:52
most to get back to a surgical center.
13:56
That is dead and gone. And what you have
13:58
now is a much more isolated experience
14:02
for troops.
14:03
But when you look at at Navy SEALs who
14:06
say, "Listen, it's not a problem that I
14:08
need to take testosterone every single
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week or else I'm going to just
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completely crash out."
14:15
The problem is that when you're fighting
14:17
a peer adversary, the Taliban were never
14:18
going to cut off supply lines for any
14:20
length of time. Taliban never isolated
14:23
American bases for 200-plus days. It
14:25
just didn't happen, right?
14:28
The problem is that Russians can do
14:30
that.
14:30
And
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when you when your fight is going well,
14:37
you are not cut off. Your troops are
14:40
well supplied. And that is presumably,
14:43
right? So if you have testosterone in
14:45
those circumstances, you probably don't
14:46
need it. You don't need that little
14:47
extra tiny fraction of a percentage of
14:50
edge it might give you in muscle mass or
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cardio fitness or whatever.
14:53
Uh again, it's not clear that that's
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really the case meaningfully for healthy
14:57
adult men, but even if it were,
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it will work when you don't need it,
15:03
when you're already winning. But what
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happens if you're a paratrooper on Karga
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Island? You think we're going to be
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dropping cratefuls of tea of
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testosterone for those paratroopers to
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stay jacked? There's not even going to
15:14
be refrigeration to keep it cool, right?
15:18
And the problem is when you are at
15:20
fighting at the the edge of your
15:22
capability when you need that extra
15:24
fighting umph that purportedly
15:27
testosterone's going to give them.
15:30
That's when they can't get it.
15:32
Those paratroopers aren't going to be
15:33
able to get their testosterone. And so,
15:35
2,000 of them in this scenario are going
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to be
15:39
experiencing all of those testosterone
15:42
withdrawal symptoms while fighting for
15:44
their lives, okay? So, this is again
15:47
just delusional slop from
15:50
Pete Hegseth, right? And it just
15:52
reflects again a policy that is more
15:55
vibes based, more what you wish were
15:57
true than what really is true. Now, if
15:59
you want to give yourself a little boost
16:02
without turning to
16:04
uh
16:04
weird peptides or Pete Hegseth's
16:07
testosterone uh
16:09
magic, well, that's what Strike Gum is
16:11
for. It's got 90 mg of caffeine,
16:14
100 mg of Alpha-GPC,
16:16
10 calories.
16:17
It's not going to make you dependent on
16:18
anything,
16:19
but you can get it on Amazon. It's
16:21
veteran-owned, it's made in the USA.
16:23
Everyone from streamers to gym nuts to
16:26
athletes to Ukrainian drone pilots loves
16:28
the stuff. So, pick it up at
16:29
strikegum.com. Thanks for our colonel
16:31
tier members, Chris, Charles, Kevin,
16:32
Brent, Andreas, Jim, John, CPC, Leonis,
16:34
Gabriel, Brendan, Alfred, and Peter, as
16:35
well as our lieutenant tier members.
16:36
We're updating the list now. Thank you
16:38
guys. We'll see you in the next one.
16:39
Cheers.