# Warriors & performance-enhancing drugs

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warriors-performance-enhancing-drugs/731354>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 15, 2015, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warriors-performance-enhancing-drugs/731354 "2015-09-15T13:33:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warriors-performance-enhancing-drugs/731354/21 "2015-09-20T12:41:03Z")

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The military steroid monkeys I have known were all rear echelon types whose job allowed them access to weight-lifting facilities and wasn’t adversely effected by useless upper body mass. Combat types were pretty universally fit but not “pumped up.”

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**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warriors-performance-enhancing-drugs/731354/22 "2015-09-20T15:12:05Z")

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Chewing coca leaves has been used by andean peoples, including their warriors, to relieve fatigue and diminish appetite.

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**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warriors-performance-enhancing-drugs/731354/23 "2015-09-20T16:06:05Z")

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> [@Habeed](#):
>
> I suspect Rangers and Seals often take anabolic steroids. They tend to have exceptional amounts of muscle mass, and a lot of the endurance training tends to make people smaller, preventing them from retaining that much mass. I would expect that commanders usually turn a blind eye to it, and normal military drug tests do _not_ screen for anabolics - they have to pay a lot more money and send the specimens to a special lab. I don’t see any reason why SOCOM would do this.

Can’t anabolic steroids also be used to speed up recovery from tissue damage? I’m sure that is something that would make them useful for soldiers too.

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