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Amazon warrior on a Green wine cup, circa 500 BCE.

Why don’t we test Congress and administration for testosterone?

Has our Forest Lake High School valedictorian, Princeton grad, Weekend Fox News Secretary of Defense

Pete Hegseth finally hit on why we are losing the war with Iran?

Our military service members over 30 lack testosterone so are fatigued, have weak muscles and health problems that lower lethality and interfere with combat readiness. So, he has an annual plan to screen troops to see if they need hormone replacement therapy.

In that our military includes more than 400,000 active women, it’s surprising Hegseth has not included them in his hormone replacement plan. Of course, he has stated many times that women should not be in combat.

Civil War historians estimate that between 400 and 1,000 women disguised themselves as men to enlist in the Union and Confederate armies. Women have a little testosterone in their bodies, but they were motivated by patriotism, finding a job with pay, financial bounties and sometimes served in combat to be near husbands and family members.

Like men, they suffered battlefield wounds and died from diseases. Women were often not discovered until wounded and their bodies were exposed in treatment or death.

As an example, Sarah Rosetta Wakeman joined the Union Army by enlisting under the alias Lyons Wakeman and served in the 153rd New York State Volunteers. She fought in the major Red River Campaign, other battles, and died of diarrhea in a New Orleans military hospital on June 19, 1864. She was buried with honors in the Chalmette National Cemetery under her male name.

There is an old Russian saying that comes to mind: “Women can do everything and men can do the rest.”
Suzy Hansen reviewed two books written by Hegseth in her column “Made In The USA” published by the New York Review of Books. She has several paragraphs dripping with acid about Hegseth, the All-American boy. This is just one:

“Extreme though Hegseth may be, he is a recognizable type: a jockish puerile white man, a boy you knew in your public high school, if you went to one. He is the Jersey Shore as much as he is Kansan, Florida, Texas and Oregon. You may recall him as the guy who shoved queer kids into trash cans in the cafeteria and said things about girls like ‘You’d need a crowbar to get her knees open.’ As an adult, Hegseth is a man whom people have described leaving a bar, shit-faced, chanting ‘No means Yes’ and ‘Kill all Muslims!’ He is what the world thinks some Americans are, the bleakest caricature. This is a person produced by a culture, a society and a history. But Hegseth is real and he is American, which means we have no choice but to ask what to do with him, and what to do with ourselves.”

That is a big “OUCH!”  How does a high school valedictorian and Princeton University grad end up so damn stoopid?

Why doesn’t Princeton grad Hegseth know Joan and Virginie?

Or Hannah, Christian, Jennie and hundreds of other women who fought bravely in thousands of battles through  thousands of years? Joan of Arc put on her armor and led the French in the Hundred Year’s War and was burned at the stake on a street corner.

Virginie Ghesquiere joined the French Army in 1792 under the name of Charles and served for several years before her sex was discovered.

Hannah Snell disguised herself as her brother-in-law and joined the British Royal marines in 1745, served in India until 1750 until her sex was discovered.

Christian Davies assumed the name of Kit Cavanaugh and enlisted in the Royal Scots Greys in 1693 and searched for years for her drafted husband.

Francis Louise Clayton, alias Jack Williams, fought in the Union Army in several major battles alongside her husband.

Jennie Hodgers joined and fought in the 95th Illinois Infantry under the name of Albert D.J. Cashier for the duration of the American Civil War, lived as a man after the war, and is buried in a cemetery under a military veteran’s headstone in Illinois.

These women were never required to take an annual exam to determine if “lethality” and hormones were up to standard.

World history is filled with reality and myths, with many of the myths based on real history. I repeat: women have been ready and willing to perform in and face death and wounds in combat for thousands of years.

Hegseth’s excessive use of alcohol for decades must have vomited a lot of world history out of his mind.

Lake Forest High School and Princeton University must have had literature and history courses containing myths and history required for graduation.

As  scientists use advances in tools such as DNA as we attempt to make life better for billions of people, we often discover that myths and passed-on stories are often based on real historical events.
OK, sometimes they are highly exaggerated, of cultural storytelling, or so-called “supernatural elements,” and morph into myths or legends over campfires or dinner tables.
As an example, have you ever heard of the Amazons?

Greeks used “Amazonomachy” to show barbarian chaos

Every major civilization has myths to show that it has triumphed over barbarians to live the good life. In Greek mythology, and there was plenty of it, the Amazons were a much-feared society of warrior women (Notice Hegseth calls all military members “warriors,” whether they were cooks or civil affairs officers like himself.)

There is the story of Amazons cutting off their right or left breast to facilitate their expert use of bow and arrow while riding a horse astride. They also fought on foot using spears, double-bladed axes and shields. Greek art and literature depicted epic battles with enemies whether single or numerous. Amazons, combat-ready, clashed with Greek male heroes like Heracles, Theseus,and Achilles. Greeks said Amazons lived on the edge of the known world.

When graves in Bronze Age Nakhchivan in Azerbaijan were excavated, women with war wounds had been buried with their weapons such as daggers, axes, arrows, maces and metal jewelry.
The Bronze Age generally lasted from about 3300 CBE to 1200 CBE and featured the use of bronze, a metal made by combining copper with about 10% tin. It made tools which were able to create massive technological and societal advancements. It was also the period when the wheel was invented and widely used.

Arrowheads were found buried in bones, indicating the person had been killed in battle by bow and arrow.

In addition, in 2017 a woman was found in an Armenian grave with arrowheads in her leg bones. In 2019, four remains of female warriors were found in a Russian grave.
When skeletons were studied, experts determined fingers had been warped by excessive use of the bow and arrow and finger joints were enlarged by use. Another sure sign of an Amazon was the fact that female pelvises were opened up by too many hours spent on horseback.

Does our Secretary of “War” think Vietnam lacked hormones?

During the Vietnam War I was principal of Fargo South High School when I had the pleasure to graduate more than 250 men 18 years of age each year that were eligible for the military draft.

With my eight years of experience as a veteran Marine officer on active duty and on reserve, I had many discussions with those who were “possibles” to see the Mekong Delta and Saigon. A few grads enlisted, many were drafted, some went to Canada, some burned their draft cards and some were killed or wounded on the beaches, in the jungles or on Vietnam streets and ended up with their names on the Vietnam Memorial Wall.

Protests against our participation in the war were constant across the U.S. and were present in our military assigned to one-year tours against the Viet Cong. Between 1969 and 1972 our military recorded hundreds of attacks and murders of U.S. military officers and non-commissioned officers by their own troops. The act was called “fragging.”

Attackers used a fragmentation grenade to kill because it left no physical evidence against personnel who used them.

In the Bien Hoa incident in 1969 a fragmentation grenade was tossed into the officers’ sleeping quarters, killing several officers. An Army private was charged with the crime but was acquitted because of lack of evidence. Fingerprints on a grenade never survived the explosion.

A report of an incident at Phu Bai contained these important descriptive lines of the attacks: “Soldiers typically resorted to fragging to eliminate officers they deemed incompetent, overly eager for combat or a threat to their survival. Other motivating factors included deep racial tensions, retaliation against anti-drug policies and general erosion of morale as troops questioned the purpose of the war.

Race proved to be a major factor in military protests because, although Blacks made up about 14% of the total population, some units on-line were 40% Black.

And then we had officers looking forward to careers in the military, so they wanted to attack the enemy all the time. Many of these types were shot and killed by their own men as they charged through the jungles or climbed hills.

Will testosterone help Hegseth maintain “lethal male warriors?”

Army Sergeant Major John Presley holds the record of 19 combat tours in wars while serving in U.S. Army Special Force units. Army Ranger Specialist Kristoffer Doneji has also survived 14 combat tours of varying length.

Multiple studies by the U.S. National Center for Biotechnology Information has an answer: “Multiple combat tours drastically increase the risk of severe mental health challenges. Troops with three or more deployments face significantly higher rates of PTSD, substance abuse, and intense strain on family relationships. Marines have higher overall rates of PTSD with two deployments than other troops because of the types of combat they face.”

A report by Psychiatric News reveals that longer deployments of 13 months or more are directly associated with “a higher prevalence of psychological symptoms and severe alcohol problems and frequent combat tours are closely linked to a higher frequency of partner relationship breakdowns and increased risks of severe family violence.”

The “Big Question” is: If his annual plan to check 30-year-old military men for testosterone is approved, will Secretary of War Hegseth and Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump be the first to receive doses?

They are the two leaders now throwing political grenades and fragging the democracy of the Divided States of America.

Hegseth has had a couple of tours overseas, but I don’t know whether he has ever directed or pulled a trigger in combat. But we do know he has sexually assaulted women, been a classic drunk, is a racist and has no respect for women in combat.

He claims they are not physically or mentally capable of being “lethal warriors.”

Someone should tell him 21% of the U.S. Navy personnel are women.

And then we have the nutcase Trump. Perhaps all the males in the Trump administration are afflicted by Hypogonadotropic Hypogonadism.