WATERLOO, Iowa — Presidential candidate Ben Carson told veterans that he disagreed with President Obama’s policy of “using our military as a laboratory for social experimentation.”

Speaking at a Concerned Veterans for America town hall, Carson criticized Obama’s policies, including the expectation of open service by an estimated 15,000 transgender service members, saying that “we have too many important things to do.”

According to NBC, the retired neurosurgeon said, “When our men and women are out there fighting the enemy, the last thing that we need to be doing is saying what would it be like if we introduced several transgender people into this platoon.”

“You know, give me a break,” he continued. “Deal with the transgender thing somewhere else.”

Carson then stated he supports the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy repealed by Congress and President Obama in 2011. “I mean, why do you have to go around flouting your sexuality?” he asked. “It’s not necessary. You don’t need to talk about that. We need to talk about how we eliminate the enemy.”

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was a policy signed by then-President Bill Clinton in 1993. It outlined that homosexual relationships are incompatible with military service, though it left decisions on how to deal with the policy up to company commanders.

It was officially repealed in 2010, with implementation taking place in 2011.

Carson’s comments are similar to those made by another GOP presidential candidate, Texas Senator Ted Cruz. In October, Cruz condemned the change for transgender service members, saying the military should be “focusing on hunting down and killing the bad guys ... instead of treating it as this crucible for social justice innovations.”

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Reprinted with permission from LifeSiteNews.