I'm not understanding the outrage over this. Its pretty funny. How can you spin this into a negative? Getting extra info on annual blood labs is bad? Maybe finding an actual diagnosis for a myriad of symptoms you might be experiencing that have been blown off before? I don't get it. Whats bad about making dudes more capable?
The transgender uproar is comical.

Not a giant fan of Pete but he just joins the long list of shitty SECDEFs over the years.

Edited Wednesday at 11:55 PM3 days by uhhello

I thought Pete was against gender affirming care?

1 hour ago, uhhello said:

I'm not understanding the outrage over this. Its pretty funny. How can you spin this into a negative? Getting extra info on annual blood labs is bad? Maybe finding an actual diagnosis for a myriad of symptoms you might be experiencing that have been blown off before? I don't get it. Whats bad about making dudes more capable?
The transgender uproar is comical.

Not a giant fan of Pete but he just joins the long list of shitty SECDEFs over the years.

Ya think they're testing for data points? They're not doing diagnostic genomics either, which is a better path to help figure out root causes of issues. Nope. All you Gens, Cols, and Chiefs, here's your mandatory prescription, start popping man pills.

9 minutes ago, disgruntledemployee said:

Ya think they're testing for data points? They're not doing diagnostic genomics either, which is a better path to help figure out root causes of issues. Nope. All you Gens, Cols, and Chiefs, here's your mandatory prescription, start popping man pills.

Good to see we're fully to the point of 'if group A is doing something, it's terrible'

we're fucked. We need Ratners prediction sooner rather than later

2 hours ago, disgruntledemployee said:

Ya think they're testing for data points? They're not doing diagnostic genomics either, which is a better path to help figure out root causes of issues. Nope. All you Gens, Cols, and Chiefs, here's your mandatory prescription, start popping man pills.

Swing and a miss. Zero people are forced to do TRT. It’s screening/informational only, with any follow up TRT being 100% voluntary. Also FWIW, TRT is very mainstream and not some far out in left field thing. Not saying you or anyone else should want to do it, but screening for it and docs recommending TRT is common these days. So no , this whole thing is not remotely as big of a deal the media is making it out to be (which some on here are apparently buying).

11 hours ago, brabus said:

Swing and a miss. Zero people are forced to do TRT. It’s screening/informational only, with any follow up TRT being 100% voluntary. Also FWIW, TRT is very mainstream and not some far out in left field thing. Not saying you or anyone else should want to do it, but screening for it and docs recommending TRT is common these days. So no , this whole thing is not remotely as big of a deal the media is making it out to be (which some on here are apparently buying).

Yep. The vast majority of those complaining about being tested (like you said, not forced to take anything) are largely the same people who:

1) Supported forcing members to take an unproven and unnecessary vaccine or be disciplined

2) Supported needing “extremism” training because somehow the military is full of white supremacists

3) Believe that boys can suddenly become girls, and that’s it’s ok to have these people with serious mental health issues serve in the military and be told they’re just fine and normal

Oh, and one of the first things I asked my civilian PCP after I retired was for a lab test to check my testosterone levels, in addition to many other lab tests the military doesn’t seem to normally do.

Edited Thursday at 03:28 PM2 days by HeloDude

1 hour ago, HeloDude said:

Yep. The vast majority of those complaining about being tested (like you said, not forced to take anything) are largely the same people who:

1) Supported forcing members to take an unproven and unnecessary vaccine or be disciplined

2) Supported needing “extremism” training because somehow the military is full of white supremacists

3) Believe that boys can suddenly become girls, and that’s it’s ok to have these people with serious mental health issues serve in the military and be told they’re just fine and normal

Oh, and one of the first things I asked my civilian PCP after I retired was for a lab test to check my testosterone levels, in addition to many other lab tests the military doesn’t seem to normally do.

I would be very curious to see what the thresholds are. I got tested on my own dime after getting educated on symptoms related to low T. Got on a good regimen and have never felt better in my entire life. You have to essentially have non existent levels with the VA in order to even get started and have friends still active who have ran into same roadblocks with active health care. Its silly.

What’s the VA rating for lowT?

Not being forced to take anything....YET.

No Black Generals or Admirals.
No women Generals or Admirals
No Air discipline for anyone, have at it boys.

Give me an Fing break ladies...

1 hour ago, ClearedHot said:

Not being forced to take anything....YET.

No Black Generals or Admirals.
No women Generals or Admirals
No Air discipline for anyone, have at it boys.

Give me an Fing break ladies...

Sarcasm?

15 minutes ago, brabus said:

Sarcasm?

Nope....simply outlining Pete's latest policy decisions and the opportunity for this to run off the rails.

Well you made two false claims and an extremely hyperbolic one. It’s out of character, so that’s why I ask.

3 minutes ago, brabus said:

Well you made two false claims and an extremely hyperbolic one. It’s out of character, so that’s why I ask.

At least two black GOs in the USAF’s latest 1-star and 2-star list. At least 1-female in the 1-star list. I know the fact that there are no women on the Navy’s 1-star list is causing a stir but there are definitely other minorities on the list. Me thinks he’s simply removing folks who were major advocates for DEI everything in the military (and as we all know many of those happen to be minorities). Several white males were also removed from the list.

Look I’m not saying I agree with Pete here as it sets a dangerous precedent when it comes to civilian control of the military influenced by politicos but some understanding of nuance here is important.

4 hours ago, arg said:

What’s the VA rating for lowT?

It’s very low. The VA gives me TRT.

https://www.va.gov/formularyadvisor/DOC_PDF/CFU_Testosterone_Replacement_in_Males_Criteria_Update_Mar2025.pdf

13 hours ago, Sua Sponte said:

It’s very low. The VA gives me TRT.

https://www.va.gov/formularyadvisor/DOC_PDF/CFU_Testosterone_Replacement_in_Males_Criteria_Update_Mar2025.pdf

I was trying to be a bit funny. I bet that thought crossed a few peoples minds. People chasing that disibillity rating.

Huh, this hits close to home for me. I spent the last 5 years trying to get treated for low-t. Put the balls through a ringer trying (and failing) to have kids with the wife.

The "docs" wouldn't do shit. You know how hard it is physically to be low t and work out for the PT test? I could never recover, constantly tired. Testing BELOW 300ng/do and the fucking prick said, "That's what the APA says, but I go to 200." Retired, went to a real doc and asked to get tested and they called me and said the scrip was in and to start ASAP. In 3 years I went from 370 to 174.

That said, fuck the govt doing a mandatory test like this. I have zero confidence this stays like he said it will. Are we going to be testing females for their gonad profile? I know many broads who had the same damn issues I did. I know we have to take tb and hiv tests, I would classify those as not the same thing. All from a dude who can't bench, no less.

Just so I understand.

Low-T is a brutal condition that affects the ability to maintain physical conditioning. And it affects multiple service members on this board alone.

and

We shouldn't be testing for low-T.

Do I have that right?

5 hours ago, 17D_guy said:

Are we going to be testing females for their gonad profile?

Are we doing to pretend like we care? Women in the military was never about physical performance.

Frankly the mil should be testing for a shitload more things. The fact I have to pay hundreds out of pocket every year to get full blood panels to track health is dumb. But then again, the mil hasn’t given a shit about my health in over 20 years. It would be awesome if the mil started doing yearly blood panels for every service member - that would be an immensely good thing…and something some people would still lose their minds about for some illogical reason.

16 hours ago, Lord Ratner said:

Just so I understand.

Low-T is a brutal condition that affects the ability to maintain physical conditioning. And it affects multiple service members on this board alone.

and

We shouldn't be testing for low-T.

Do I have that right?

Are we doing to pretend like we care? Women in the military was never about physical performance.

It's very interesting what you take from comments. The gov't shouldn't be forcing testing for just this. I like @brabus comment where this is a holistic approach to improving the health of war fighters. Because this impacts me personally I've read a lot about it. Testing dudes over 30 mandatory smacks of just the stupidity and overreach of this admin. Just like, "no more flu shots" and how'd that work out?

We should all have a health "passport" that follows us through service. Would make VA claims a hell of a lot more streamlined. You come in and are tested for a myriad of "shitload of more things" as @brabus puts it. Then it gets updated yearly, biannually, whatever, so you can track that shit. It took 3 different dosing regimens to figure out where my numbers should be. If I had gotten tested in my early 20's, biannually through retirement, we could have figured all of this shit out for a whole lot less ass-pain, and cheaper since I was doing almost quarterly tests the last 2 years to get the docs to do something.

Not sure why the snide comment for women. They have hormone issues to, my wife a former bag wearer is in the same boat -- USAF did fuck all. Hormones impact all facets of life, so yes. Women should also have a health passport through service. If you think we should go back to women not serving because "we don't care" that's on you and irrelevant to the point I'm making, or even this topic.

Overall, not the worst thing, but stupid in comms and implementation. Clearly tied to his imaginary ideal of what a warrior actually is. Just thought how his interactions with LeMay would have gone.

22 hours ago, 17D_guy said:

That said, fuck the govt doing a mandatory test like this. I have zero confidence this stays like he said it will. Are we going to be testing females for their gonad profile? I know many broads who had the same damn issues I did. I know we have to take tb and hiv tests, I would classify those as not the same thing. All from a dude who can't bench, no less.

Okay so now we've gone from this shouldn't be mandatory, to this should be mandatory and so should a whole bunch of other things?

I'm just trying to follow along.

“Health passport” is a great idea. The positive way to look at this is screening for 30+ is certainly a step in the right direction (and as stated, not nearly enough…but it’s a start). I’m not seeing a negative, at least a logical one. I am 100% against forced therapy/drugs, but that isn’t happening, so it’s a moot point.