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US Military culture is pretty toxic in a lot of ways, but adding steroids isn't going to fix anything. Won't the standards get even higher to match the better performance they get from steroids? It's like if you invented cheap weight-loss pills and gave them to models. They won't stop idealizing anorexia, it'll just be even easier for them to push themselves to an unhealthy limit.
For the specific case of selective schools like BUD/S, most likely yes. Thirty years ago, weightlifting wasn't really a thing in special forces, but they've raised their standards quite a bit as everyone has gotten buff.
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Why? If the ideal SEAL can do X pull ups, run Y miles with a pack on, and swim Z miles in icy rough water; then that's the standard you need to hit whether we get 20 of them who pass or 2000. I don't really see the point of curving the test so it gets harder, just make more teams. God and the CIA only know how often we use them.
This misses the point of BUD/S, which is to weed out the (relatively) weak. You have to push people to the physical breaking point, so if they're all juiced, you have to move the standards.
A BUD/S class with an 85% pass rate isn't doing its job. The whole point is to cull the herd. If the herd gets stronger, you have to cull harder, or on different metrics.
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Well it's not just about the standards to become a SEAL but the competitive culture. Hazing doesn't become less toxic even if everybody can meat SEAL standards.
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