By Bobby Jindal and Keith Kellogg

Just a few days ago, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said, “We owe our warriors the absolute best medical care in the world, and this program delivers on that obligation.”

On the medicine, he is right. Under the July 15 directive, “all Active Duty and Reserve Component personnel aged 30 and older” will have testosterone measured once a year as part of the Periodic Health Assessment they already sit for. Troops under 30 may request the test. If a result comes back low and a military physician recommends treatment, the service member decides whether to accept it.

The problem, “low T,” has a military history that predates this Pentagon and this administration. In 2020, the International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine described “Operator Syndrome”, the various medical and behavioral conditions produced by the extraordinary wear and tear of a career in special operations. Hormonal dysfunction sits on that list alongside traumatic brain injury, sleep disturbance, chronic pain, and depression. The conclusion? Blast exposure and chronic stress dysregulate the endocrine system, and low testosterone shows up as fatigue, low mood, poor concentration, and disrupted sleep.

And this is not, as some coverage implied, a program for men only. Hegseth said “service member,” not “serviceman.” That matters because testosterone is not a male-only hormone. Women produce it too, and clinical evidence ties low levels in women to diminished energy, mood, cognition, and bone density, while supplementing with low doses of testosterone is linked with healthy aging in women.

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