{"id":1340,"date":"2026-07-16T04:10:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T04:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1340"},"modified":"2026-07-16T04:10:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T04:10:36","slug":"pete-hegseth-wants-you-to-test-your-testosterone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1340","title":{"rendered":"Pete Hegseth Wants YOU to Test Your Testosterone"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Pete Hegseth wants a manly military. And he really, really wants you to know how badly he wants a manly military. In his 2024 book, The War on Warriors<\/em>, Hegseth worried that the military risked becoming \u201ceffeminate, and apologetic\u201d; he insisted that what liberals really want is \u201csoft men, and a weak military,\u201d and he scolded \u201cPentagon pussies\u201d who refuse to stand up for soldiers on the battlefield. As secretary of defense, Hegseth has blocked the promotion of female military officers, removed the first woman to lead the Navy, and ordered a review of women\u2019s \u201ceffectiveness\u201d in ground-combat roles. He has also used the Defense Department\u2019s social-media channels to post a steady stream of tougher-than-thou videos.<\/p>\n

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The latest entry in this genre came earlier today, when Hegseth announced that he is requiring every service member over 30 to have their testosterone tested annually. He let this be known in a video posted on X captioned \u201cThe High-T Department of War.\u201d In the video, he tells soldiers that if they\u2019re found to have low testosterone, they might be recommended testosterone-replacement therapy but that it won\u2019t be mandatory. Then again, given what he then says about testosterone \u201crestoring and optimizing your natural capabilities,\u201d it sure seems like he believes that everyone should partake. How much this new initiative will cost taxpayers, and the question of whether the military health system\u2019s labs even have the capacity for such testing, is unclear. But the bigger question is whether this is in any way a good idea.<\/p>\n

At least within the general population, universal testosterone screening for men is not considered standard practice. The Endocrine Society recommends against testing for hypogonadism\u2014the medical term for when the body doesn\u2019t produce enough testosterone or sperm\u2014unless a man has symptoms such as erectile dysfunction. The American Urological Association\u2019s guidelines say that a low-testosterone diagnosis shouldn\u2019t be made based solely on a test. That\u2019s because testosterone levels can vary widely, and a man with a lower-than-average number might still be perfectly healthy. The threshold for diagnosing low testosterone remains a matter of debate even among medical organizations. Many of those who favor testosterone \u201coptimization\u201d argue that the cutoff has been set too low and that even men with hormone levels in the normal range would benefit from replacement therapy. A Department of Defense official declined to say whether it had settled on an acceptable baseline.<\/p>\n

In the video, Hegseth notes that testosterone levels go down with age. That\u2019s true of everyone; in men, levels usually start to decline around age 40. But they don\u2019t fall off a cliff: They tend to dip about 1 to 2 percent a year. Other factors, such as maintaining a healthy weight and getting enough sleep, can also play a significant role.<\/p>\n

Testosterone therapy is the only treatment Hegseth cites in the announcement video. But even if a man\u2019s testosterone level drops below what\u2019s considered normal, doctors don\u2019t automatically recommend testosterone-replacement therapy. For starters, non-pharmaceutical interventions might work. It\u2019s not obvious that, say, a 33-year-old man with low testosterone levels needs to start getting shots. It might be that he needs to start taking the stairs and going to bed at a reasonable hour. Cutting back on drinking could help too: Excess alcohol consumption is known to lower testosterone.<\/p>\n

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Testosterone-replacement therapy also comes with real side effects. Hegseth and other proponents of testosterone therapy, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., sometimes talk about the drug like it\u2019s just another supplement. (Kennedy has acknowledged using testosterone himself; the Defense Department official didn\u2019t respond to a question about whether Hegseth, who is 46, takes the steroid.) But taking testosterone is not the same as popping a vitamin for a B12 deficiency. Testosterone therapy suppresses a man\u2019s natural production of the hormone and decreases sperm count. That\u2019s why experts caution against its use by men trying to conceive. In 2023, a large study published in The New England Journal of Medicine<\/em> alleviated decades-old fears that middle-aged and older men who take testosterone might be at increased risk of having a heart attack. But last year, the Food and Drug Administration added a warning to testosterone\u2019s label noting that it can increase blood pressure.<\/p>\n

The new edict doesn\u2019t apply just to men. In response to a question about whether women will have to have their testosterone tested, the DOD official wrote that \u201ceveryone over 30 years old will be tested annually.\u201d Although women do produce the hormone, albeit usually in much lower amounts than men, replacement therapy is rarely recommended except in cases of low sexual desire after menopause. (In practice, middle-aged women have recently been flocking to testosterone to alleviate all sorts of symptoms of menopause and perimenopause.) What women are supposed to make of their test results, and what it has to do with turning them into more effective soldiers, is unclear. Hegseth has made a point of emphasizing the differences between the sexes and of questioning the ability of women to serve in combat. But in this instance, he has inexplicably opted for a gender-neutral policy.<\/p>\n

Checking the testosterone levels of military members isn\u2019t necessarily going to hurt anyone. But it also isn\u2019t supported by current medical guidelines. Neither, for that matter, was Hegseth\u2019s decision in April to make the annual influenza vaccine optional. (After a flu outbreak at a base in San Antonio, Texas, last month, the military reinstated the mandate for some new recruits.)<\/p>\n

Although Hegseth insists in his video that the new order is about keeping soldiers on \u201cthe leading edge of lethality,\u201d it\u2019s hard to see how requiring a blood test they probably don\u2019t need contributes to military readiness. Instead, like Hegseth\u2019s chest-thumping workout videos, his fat-shaming of generals, and his denouncement of anything he deems weak or woke, it is an exercise in projecting a masculine image. His announcement comes at a moment when the Iran war is once again heating up, which is certain to put more strain on the military\u2019s already-depleted missile stockpiles. Maybe that\u2019s the number Hegseth should be worried about.<\/p>\n

Read more United States of Disbelief<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The secretary of defense has a questionable plan to monitor the hormone levels of every service member over 30.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"yoast_head":"\nPete Hegseth Wants YOU to Test Your Testosterone - Commercial Relocation Pros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1340\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pete Hegseth Wants YOU to Test Your Testosterone - Commercial Relocation Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The secretary of defense has a questionable plan to monitor the hormone levels of every service member over 30.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1340\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Relocation Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-16T04:10:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1340#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1340\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a\"},\"headline\":\"Pete Hegseth Wants YOU to Test Your Testosterone\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-16T04:10:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1340\"},\"wordCount\":1061,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1340#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/d7bb6e92af940f97d1b225f529c6a8f3.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Health\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1340#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1340\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1340\",\"name\":\"Pete Hegseth Wants YOU to Test Your Testosterone - 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