---
title: "Hegseth’s Morning Blood Test May Find a Quarter of the Army Wanting"
description: "A JAMA study estimates that the Pentagon’s new testosterone screen would flag about 26 percent of active-duty Army men as low"
author: "Jan Sokol"
published: 2026-10-15T21:09:57Z
modified: 2026-10-16T05:26:22Z
url: https://rews.cc/a/hegseth-s-morning-blood-test-may-find-a-quarter-of-the-army--ac35ab
language: en
tags: ["military", "health", "testosterone", "screening", "obesity", "us"]
publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)"
---

# Hegseth’s Morning Blood Test May Find a Quarter of the Army Wanting

*A JAMA study estimates that the Pentagon’s new testosterone screen would flag about 26 percent of active-duty Army men as low*

By Jan Sokol · October 15, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/hegseth-s-morning-blood-test-may-find-a-quarter-of-the-army--ac35ab

## In brief

- In July, Hegseth ordered testosterone screening for male troops aged 30 and older, with treatment left optional
- A JAMA research letter published Oct. 15 drew on data collected at five Army installations from 2024 to 2026
- At the Pentagon’s 300 ng/dL cutoff, about 26% of active-duty Army men would test low; at the CDC’s 264 ng/dL cutoff, about 15%
- Low results were more common with age and higher BMI: 19.5% of men under 30 versus 33% of men 30 and older
- Experts say levels vary widely and true hypogonadism is rare, affecting 1% of men at most

Every state that raises an army eventually wants to measure the men inside it. It weighs them, times their runs, counts their push-ups. This summer the American state went further and decided to measure a hormone in their blood.

In July, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth [announced a new policy](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/hegseth-announces-new-policy-to-test-troops-for-low-testosterone-and-offer-them-hormone-replacement-therapy) to test troops for low testosterone and offer them hormone replacement therapy. Male service members aged 30 and older must be screened. Younger troops may ask for the test if they report symptoms such as tiredness, reduced sex drive, low mood, trouble concentrating or weaker physical performance. In a social media video Hegseth said proper hormone levels would keep troops on the “leading edge of lethality,” and he added a disclaimer: “This initiative is not about artificial enhancement. It’s about restoring and optimizing your natural capabilities.” The test is compulsory. Treatment is not. Under the Defense Health Agency’s guidelines, as [Military Times reported](https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2026/10/15/routine-testosterone-screening-of-us-troops-may-require-extensive-follow-on-care-study-finds/), blood is drawn on the mornings of two different days, anyone below 300 ng/dL is referred for further assessment, and treatment can come as weekly or twice-weekly injections, a daily pill or a gel.

From the start, doctors [questioned his claims](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/07/16/hegseth-touts-high-testosterone-military-doctors-question-his-claims/). Now there is a number.

## Five bases, one cutoff

The number appeared on Thursday, October 15, in a research letter in *JAMA*. Its authors work at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine in Natick, Massachusetts. They drew on the Military Health and Nutrition Examination Study, which collected data at five Army installations between August 2024 and January 2026.

![A red-capped test tube containing red liquid stands in a textured desert landscape, casting a long shadow shaped like a person.](https://rews.cc/img/e6133a616e94fb89be81dd29aa93d446013d5f0c.webp)

Among the Army men surveyed, the weighted mean morning total testosterone was 405 ng/dL, comfortably above the line. But an average says little about the people below it. Using the Pentagon’s own threshold of 300 ng/dL, which follows the American Urological Association’s recommendation, and extrapolating to the whole active-duty Army, the researchers estimate that about 26 percent of soldiers would get a result suggesting low testosterone, as [Beth Mole reported for *Ars Technica*](https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/10/hegseths-dubious-low-t-screening-may-flag-up-to-25-percent-of-the-army/). Military Times puts the figure at 25.7 percent, or an estimated 100,691 men. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention uses a slightly lower harmonized reference cutoff of 264 ng/dL. By that measure about 15 percent would fall short.

One soldier in four, or one in seven. The difference depends on whose line you draw.

## Age, weight, a bad night

The low readings were not spread evenly. The older the soldier, and the higher his body mass index, the more likely his result fell under either threshold. According to *Ars Technica*, 19.5 percent of men under 30 had a low measurement, against 33 percent of men 30 and older. Military Times gives the figures as 20 and 32.8 percent. In other words, the order falls hardest on exactly the group it targets. Military Times also notes that the overall share of low results is roughly what is found in the general U.S. population.

![Four uniformed figures of different heights and builds stand with their backs turned beneath a large caliper, with the rightmost figure highlighted in red.](https://rews.cc/img/2baa7012de907de3d557218f90d13208aa262e5d.webp)

This is why medicine has kept away from blanket screening. Testosterone is a restless measurement. It falls with age and rises and falls over the day. It drops with obesity, illness, physical stress, poor sleep, trauma and a range of medications. Military Times adds lead exposure, combat, injury and mental health conditions, and a soldier’s life supplies most of these in quantity. The disorder behind a clinically meaningful deficiency, male hypogonadism, is rare, affecting 1 percent of men at most, and usually comes from genetic conditions or problems with the pituitary gland. The accepted practice is that a man reports symptoms first, and only then do doctors begin the repeat tests and full evaluation needed for a diagnosis. The Pentagon has reversed that order: test first, and the symptoms come later, if at all.

The researchers were careful in their wording. Their results, they wrote, “suggest that routine testosterone screening will result in confirmatory testing and clinical evaluation for many male service members.” They also warned that “distinguishing an isolated low screening value from clinically significant hypogonadism is essential.”

## What follows a low number

A low reading is the start of a process, and the process has costs. The authors warned of extra appointments, extra expense and extra treatment, noting that hormone therapy tends to be long-term and carries risks. Military Times lists some of them: mood swings, aggression, blood clots and low sperm counts that can lead to infertility. The same report puts the testosterone industry at about $4.5 billion. It also cites National Institutes of Health research from 2018 on 800 older men, which found that therapy improved erectile function, libido and mood but did little for fatigue, memory or general well-being.

![A distressed illustration shows a black combat boot with orange laces attached to a heavy chain with orange links on a teal surface.](https://rews.cc/img/b89c4ecbf3d8583ec184306cbc6d0538e213f63e.webp)

Writing in *The Conversation*, critics traced the policy to the influence of the [online manosphere on government](https://theconversation.com/testosterone-testing-the-military-how-the-manosphere-shaped-us-government-policy-287685). They argued that mass screening of healthy personnel is not established medical practice, and that a soldier offered therapy after a low result may feel pressure to accept it even without symptoms.

That last point deserves a moment’s reflection. In a civilian clinic, “optional” means a patient choosing for himself. In an institution built on orders, the same word carries different weight, especially when the minister has defined the purpose of the hormone as lethality. A 31-year-old sergeant who is told his blood falls short has been told something by his chain of command, whatever the form calls it.

Before the order, the diagnosis was rare in the force. An earlier study cited by Military Times found that 12,112 of more than 2.8 million active-duty men, or 0.43 percent, had a recorded diagnosis of hypogonadism. The highest rates were in the most senior ranks, mostly general officers and warrant officers. Those generals belong to the same tier of command that Hegseth announced in September he would [cut by 20 percent](https://rews.cc/a/hegseth-to-cut-20-percent-of-u-s-general-and-admiral-positio-c5d856).