The US Department of Defense has signed a memorandum to review the list of medical conditions that would disqualify people from joining the armed forces.
Revealed by Pentagon Secretary Peter Hegseth, the step orders the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to conduct a comprehensive assessment of standards that ensure future warfighters have passing physical and mental health.
This evaluation is expected to optimize the employment criteria for enlistment, appointment, or induction processes into the military.
‘Greatest Fighting Force’
According to the defense agency, the directive is a response to “concerns about current medical waiver policies and their impact on military readiness,” which was among the priorities of the US administration since Donald Trump regained the presidency in January.
Once activated, the new policy will mandate necessary teams to screen for conditions ineligible for waivers, with the associated documents being granted by the secretary of a military department only.
“The standards for accession into the US military are high, uncompromising, and clear,” Hegseth said in the memo. “Young Americans seeking to serve in the greatest fighting force in history must be physically and mentally capable of performing their duties in the harshest conditions.”
Some ‘Unlikely’ to Serve
Conditions outlined by the government paper include those that soldiers currently receive medical waivers for, such as “schizophrenia, paraphilic disorders, congestive heart failure,” and other ailments that require the “chronic use of oxygen.”
The Pentagon highlighted that this move will lessen the surge of medical waivers being provided by the agency in the last 10 years, with about 17 percent of recruits receiving them in 2022, according to a defense inspector general’s statistics.
“While the desire to serve the United States is honorable, individuals with such conditions are generally unlikely to complete initial military training or their first term of service,” Hegseth wrote.
Maintaining the ‘Essential’
Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Jules Hurst III noted that the memo’s review will be facilitated in the next 30 days.
The list of resulting medical conditions will be used to “make any necessary updates to DoD guidance that the Services use to assess the medical readiness of individuals seeking to join the military.”
“High, uncompromising, and clear standards are a hallmark of the US military and are essential to helping us remain the most lethal and effective fighting force in the world,” Hurst said.
