Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has released a memo outlining medical conditions that disqualify recruits from joining the military, such as a history of paraphilic disorders — which includes pedophilia — and homicidal ideations. The memo also updates the list of medical conditions that require a waiver from a service secretary to enlist, including absence of a foot, having a pacemaker or defibrillator, or a history of disorders with psychotic features such as schizophrenic disorder.
“Severe underlying medical conditions introduce significant risks on the battlefield and threaten not only mission priorities, but also the health and safety of the affected individual and their fellow service members,” Hegseth wrote.
None of the disqualifying medical conditions were among the top health issues for which the military services have issued waivers recently, according to data that service officials provided to Task & Purpose earlier this year. The top medical conditions for which recruits seek medical waivers, according to that data, include vision issues and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, neither of which are addressed in the new memo.
Earlier this year, Hegseth ordered the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness to review which medical conditions can be waived and which should disqualify military service. He wrote in an April 24 memo that applicants could currently receive medical waivers for conditions including “schizophrenia, paraphilic disorders, congestive heart failure, and chronic use of oxygen.”
No information was immediately available about how many waivers were issued for those conditions.
The services granted more than 52,400 medical waivers to troops in fiscal year 2024, according to data provided to Task & Purpose by the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force.
The new policy seems unlikely to impact the majority of troops since the most common medical waivers granted this fiscal year and last were for those with ADHD or astigmatism, a vision problem that causes near-sightedness, according to information provided by the services.
Top Stories This Week
In fiscal year 2024, the top three conditions that the Air Force approved waivers for included asthma, cornea dystrophias/astigmatism and anxiety. For the Army, they were for behavioral health (a majority of which were for ADHD), orthopedic issues, and eye-related problems.
In fiscal year 2024 and for part of 2025, the top conditions with health waivers in the Navy were for astigmatism, ADD/ADHD, and allergies. For the Marine Corps, the top waiver conditions were astigmatism, ADHD, and history of asthma or airway hyper-responsiveness after the person’s 13th birthday.
The new medical waiver policy comes amid Hegseth’s pledge to refocus and return to standards he alleges have been “eroded” in recent years to meet quotas.
“The Department remains committed to mission success by ensuring that the young Americans who serve are physically and mentally capable of performing their duties in the harshest conditions,” Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement on Tuesday.
Data provided by the Navy indicated that a greater number of recruits began basic training with a medical waiver in fiscal year 2025 than in 2024. The increase in the percentage of recruits with waivers were the result of MHS Genesis coming online in 2022, Cmdr. Stephanie Turo, a spokesperson for Navy Recruiting Command, told Task & Purpose in May. The online system has flagged some conditions that Turo said were “erroneous” and would require a waiver.
MHS Genesis was created as an electronic health record system that would follow a service member throughout their career, until their separation or retirement into the Department of Veterans Affairs’ health system. MHS Genesis also incorporates civilian health records, giving recruiting stations more insight into recruits’ previous medical history.
Last year, nearly 37% of future sailors, or 13,148 individuals, began entry-level training with a medical waiver. As of mid-May — which was a little more than halfway through the fiscal year — more than 45% or 11,089 individuals had medical waivers, according to Navy data.
“This increase reflects significant improvements in the speed and efficiency of our medical waiver review process — not a relaxation of standards,” Turo said.
