Heavy use of steroidso
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/30/us/navy-seal-training-dea...
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/30/us/navy-seal-training-dea...
> "Sobering read. I really hope steroid use at BUDS isn't as big as this article purports it to be"
>> "It’s pretty accurate, the instructors even make jokes about it “Your roid rage is showing sir”"
>> "How could it not be, anabolics increase performance far outside the natural range and/or let you maintain what you could achieve naturally with far less effort. The effects can last well beyond when you stop taking them. You could take them from 18-21, keep training and join at 22 without testing positive but retaining a large (physical) advantage"
It's also very plausible from the NYTimes's article alone, from the report that the instructors had stopped testing for steroids, so there was no enforcement mechanism to stop the behavior.
In sports, there is an expectation of fair competition which is violated when someone is using any kind assistance, one type of which are performance enhancing drugs.
In military, on the other hand, there is no expectation of a fair competition, and exploiting any unfair advantage over the opponent is actively desired. There a genuine need to get things done, and the only concern is the impact on health - militaries have historically used all kinds of performance enhancing drugs, e.g. amphetamines as 'go pills' for USA Cold war pilots, Pervitin in WW2, etc.
In the military, one of the values is supposed to be integrity. The value of integrity isn't just idealistic: it's pragmatically important to military strategy to avoid committing war crimes, as it lessens public support for the military action among the citizenry. The public can then vote out the administration, where a future one can scale back the war effort. As evidence this is a value, the Navy SEALs in particular says [0]: "Uncompromising integrity is my standard. My character and honor are steadfast. My word is my bond."
On the health risk to recruits, from the NYTimes article : "It is hard to say what role performance-enhancing drugs played in one death when there are so many other complicating factors, said Dr. Matthew Fedoruk, the chief science officer of the United States Anti-Doping Agency. Even so, he said, the chemicals some sailors are relying on can interfere with the function of the heart, liver and other critical organs that are already under incredible stress from the brutal training.
"If enough people in a community are doping, he said, it spreads risk even to those who are clean, as the level of competition rises and more people are pushed to exhaustion and injury.
"“It makes it that much harder for the people doing the right thing to shine,” he said."
The military can either allow performance-enhancing drugs for all and provide adequate medical monitoring to avoid unnecessary deaths, or enforce the rules as written and test for it. Unnecessary deaths are in no one's interests within the country.
> “What am I going to do with guys like that in a place like Afghanistan?” said the leader. “A guy who can do 100 pull-ups but can’t make an ethical decision?”
is joining the US military an ethical decision ?
have the navy seals ever fought in US soil ?