Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday that the Pentagon will begin mandatory annual testosterone screening for every service member age 30 and older, with troops under 30 able to opt in voluntarily.
He delivered the news the way he delivers everything now by wasting taxpayer money on a two-camera video posted to X, captioned “The High-T Department of War.”
In the video, Hegseth said the screening would ensure troops have “the right testosterone levels” to perform at their best, framing the program as an investment in what he called the military’s most decisive tactical advantage: the individual warfighter. Service members flagged for low levels can choose to receive testosterone replacement therapy, which Hegseth insisted is “not about artificial enhancement.”
Set aside, for a moment, that the United States is currently at war. Set aside that the Pentagon is grappling with recruiting shortfalls, aging equipment, and an ongoing conflict in the Persian Gulf. The Secretary of Defense spent his Wednesday in hair and makeup, filming a wellness-influencer video about hormone optimization.
The hypocrisy is the headline
Here is the part Hegseth apparently didn’t think through: testosterone replacement therapy is hormone therapy. This is the same administration that banned transgender service members and stripped away gender-affirming care across the military — and it is now offering hormone treatment to troops, provided they’re the kind of troops Hegseth wants more masculine.
Critics were quick to point out that the program is, in a literal sense, gender-affirming care for men.
The internet noticed immediately.
— “the US military is creating officially designated ‘alpha’ and ‘beta’ categories based on testosterone levels. do i even need to say it?” (25K+ likes, 920K views)]
The Pentagon has also declined to answer basic questions about how the program actually works. Military Times asked whether female service members — roughly 17 percent of active-duty troops — would receive hormone screenings or access to testosterone therapy. The Pentagon declined to elaborate. NBC News asked whether there would be repercussions for troops who decline recommended treatment. No answer there either.
Even veteran Pentagon reporters were left asking for a sanity check.
A solution in search of its actual problem
To be fair to the underlying medicine, because someone in this story should be — low testosterone is a real documented concern in one specific corner of the military. Researchers have observed hormonal dysregulation in special operations personnel exposed to chronic stress, repeated blast waves, and traumatic brain injuries, a cluster of symptoms some clinicians call “Operator Syndrome.” Congress asked the Pentagon to brief lawmakers on the issue back in 2024.
But that is a targeted medical question about a small, high-exposure population — not a rationale for blanket-testing every soldier, sailor, airman, and Marine who has committed the offense of turning 30.
Roughly 5.6 percent of men between 30 and 79 have clinical testosterone deficiency. And since 2015, the FDA has required that testosterone therapy carry warning labels and be limited to men with both low levels and an associated medical condition — guardrails this administration has been actively working to loosen.
Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Army combat veteran who sits on the Armed Services Committee, offered a pointed counterproposal: if the Pentagon suddenly cares about hormones, it should extend screening to help identify fertility issues — a documented problem affecting both men and women in uniform at higher rates than the general population. Don’t hold your breath.
The clown show, reviewed by an actual soldier
The sharpest verdict came from Fred Wellman, an Army veteran and Democratic congressional candidate, who called the initiative “the absolute dumbest thing imaginable for the Secretary of Defense to be focused on,” noting that the country is literally at war while its Pentagon chief films makeup-and-lighting videos about testosterone. “What a complete clown show,” Wellman wrote. “I’m so sorry for our poor service members who have to deal with this ridiculous man.”
That’s the story in miniature. Hegseth, the man who declared, one week before his confirmation, that women shouldn’t serve in combat roles — has decided the military’s readiness crisis is a masculinity crisis. It isn’t. The crisis is a Defense Department run as a content studio, where policy is whatever makes the best caption.
The troops deserve a Secretary of Defense. What they have is a brand.
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