The Myth Of The Superhuman Soldier

Recent reports indicate that U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is open to discussing the possibility of prescribing performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) to service members to increase operational readiness and relieve the physical burden of demanding mission sets. Prior to now, political reservations about responsibly supervised PED programs in the military have suppressed meaningful dialogue in this area. PED use is taboo in the civilian sector and that sentiment seems to have pervaded the military until now. PEDs aren’t permitted in sport because governing bodies want the playing field to be level. Since it is unlikely that every sport participant would have equal access to PEDs, nobody is allowed to use them. Zero tolerance is the only way to ensure fairness, assuming nobody violates the rules. We are willing to accept differences in performance secondary to innate ability/genetics, training, and access to coaching and relevant social support, but not pharmacology. This line is often arbitrary, but reasonable.

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