Pentagon has spent $1.2M on erectile dysfunction pills for the troops

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Department of Defense started offering Viagra to its employees in 1998 but contract records only cover as far back as 2008
More than $1 million has been spent on that medication alone
Levitra and Cialis have also been bought for military personnel with taxpayer dollars
Purchasing contracts are listed under the category 'troop support'
US military's health insurance plan covers Viagra along with penis pumps, penile implants and hormone shots

By David Martosko, Us Political Editor For Dailymail.com

Published: 13:40 EST, 9 February 2015 | Updated: 14:47 EST, 9 February 2015

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The Department of Defense has spent about $1.2 million on impotence medications since they first went on its insurance plan's formulary, including more than a half-million dollars last year alone.

Federal government contract records, filed under the category 'troop support,' show just how reliant America's fighting men have become on the little blue pill that can add between-the-sheets pushups back into their regular fitness regimen.

Tapayers began footing the bill for erectile dynfunction medicine in 1998, when the military's TRICARE medical plan added Viagra and covered up to six pills per month.

Records for those early years are hard to come by because Pentagon physicians were required to special-order the medication for each patient. By 2008, however, the government began issuing regular contracts to stock the pills in its pharmacies.

GREEN FATGUES, BLUE PILLS: The Pentagon has paid for countless doses of Viagra for men in the field and stateside

NOW WITH EXTRA TAXPAYER DOLLARS: The US military has ramped up its purchases of Viagra for servicemen, spending more than $504,000 last year alone

The Washington Free Beacon uncovered some of those records. A broader survey of contracts shows $1,199,785 in purchases in the last seven years, of which 89 per cent were for Viagra. Other brands including Cialis and Levitra reeived narrower distribution to military men.

TRICARE provides 'medically necessary' and 'appropriate' remedies for erectile dysfunction, and it doesn't stop with pills.

'External vacuum appliances' – a polite euphemism for penis pumps – are covered, as are penile implants, testicular prostheses and hormone injections

The Department of Defense's Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee decides what does and doesn't make the cut.

Most of the Viagra orders have been 30-pill bottles of 100mg tablets, delivered by a single pharmaceutical vendor in Dublin, Ohio.

TRICARE forms filled out by prescribing physicians require a diagnosis for men under 50 that shows they suffer from 'organic impotence' – a condition that reduces blood fllow to the sex organs or causes nerve damage.

About $1.2 million in taxpayer funds has paid for erectile dysfunction pills used by military men

IT'S NOT A HOOVER: The Pentagon's TRICARE medical insurance plan now covers 'external vacuum devices' – penis pumps – to treat erectile dysfunction, along with a range of miracle pills

Soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines over 50 don't need to qualify – if the doctor says they need it, the taxpayers foot the bill.

But Pentagon physicians are not permitted to provide the drugs to men whose impotence is entirely due to psychological factors.

There are no records online that indicate the Department of Veterans Affairs is purchasing impotence drugs for its patients, which suggests that men who leave the armed services must use private insurance to cover the cost – or pay out-of-pocket.