SAC CITY, Iowa — GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz told a group of Iowans that allowing openly transgender service members in the military shows that America has “lost sight of what [the military’s] job is.”

Cruz addressed the topic when asked about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, a Clinton-era policy repealed in 2011 that allowed servicemembers to be discharged if they were openly homosexual.

“How about having the military focusing on hunting down and killing the bad guys…instead of treating it as this crucible for social justice innovations,” he said, according to The Washington Post. “We’ve lost sight of what their job is and that’s what we need to get back to.”

The Army and Air Force have already shifted towards allowing people with gender dysphoria to serve; such a policy will be military-wide starting in 2016.

Cruz said that he would “listen to the expert judgment of the generals and admirals” on whether to reinstate Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and said the military should focus on what is necessary for “good order and discipline.”

“We shouldn’t view the military as a cauldron for social experiments,” Cruz said.

Reprinted with permission from LifeSiteNews.