Why the Pentagon will be paying some US troops to have their sperm or eggs frozen

SALT LAKE CITY — During the global war on terrorism that stretched across Afghanistan and Iraq, nearly 2,000 American troops reportedly suffered debilitating injuries to their groins and genital regions.

And many more veterans of that conflict experienced some type of head injury that can affect fertility and sex drive, according to Military Times.

Those casualty figures speak to the stark impact that military combat can have on a service member's family planning decisions.

In response, the Pentagon is launching a demonstration project to provide money for select troops who want to preserve their gametes — eggs or sperm — prior to their deployments to danger zones.

A member of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force or Space Force serving on active duty who has received orders for duty prompting hazardous duty pay would be eligible for the gametes cryopreservation reimbursement, according to a Defense Department notification.

Troops likely to receive such orders to a danger zone — or personnel who will be separated from a "spouse, domestic partner or dating partner" for at least 180 days, including sea duty — would also be eligible for reimbursement.

The gametes cryopreservation effort, scheduled to stretch across three years, was prompted by the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, requiring the Department of Defense to conduct a project to reimburse troops for gametes cryopreservation. The project will allow the Pentagon to evaluate program participation, costs, administrative feasibility and long-term readiness impacts.

How much will troops receive for freezing sperm, eggs?

Eligible troops participating in the cryopreservation project will receive, annually, up to $500 for sperm cryopreservation services and $10,000 for oocyte cryopreservation — or egg freezing.

Participation is voluntary, and the reimbursement can be used to cover the costs of gamete retrieval, medical testing associated with cryopreservation, cryopreservation of gametes and the shipping and storage of gametes, according to the DOD notification.

Another combat reality: All troops participating in the reimbursement program will be required to have an advanced medical directive "specifying disposition of gametes upon death."

Long-sought family planning program for those in uniform

Military families and family planning advocates have lobbied for more than a decade to increase access to fertility services, including cryopreservation of sperm and egg cells before combat deployments, according to Military Times.

In 2016, then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced that the Pentagon would begin covering sperm and egg freezing for service members, but the planned pilot reportedly never came to fruition following the election later that year of President Donald Trump.

Military families have often spent their own money on cryopreservation as a safeguard, and in extreme cases, have paid to extract sperm from dying loved ones to ensure the possibility of advanced reproductive services, Military Times reported.

In 2019, the parents of West Point Cadet Peter Zhu extracted their son's sperm after he was fatally injured in a skiing accident. They argued in court that Zhu had expressed wanting to have a family someday, and they wanted to preserve his sperm to provide future options.

And since the start of the Gaza conflict, the Israeli military has started offering the option to retrieve the sperm of deceased service members when delivering casualty notifications, according to The New York Times.

Since at least 2022, organizations such as the Military Family Building Coalition, Resolve: The National Infertility Association and others have provided free cryopreservation services to some service members, but until now, no government assistance has been available for deploying troops, reported Military Times.

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