--- title: Ted Cruz Vows Strong Military With No Gluten-Free Meals description: Ted Cruz campaigned to military voters in South Carolina, promising to build the military and stop providing gluten-free military meals canonical: https://time.com/4225884/ted-cruz-military-gluten-free-meals/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-16T18:02:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:30.691Z article:section: Politics og:title: Ted Cruz Pledges Not to Provide Gluten-Free Meals to the Military og:description: He equated the meals with a culture of political correctness og:url: https://time.com/4225884/ted-cruz-military-gluten-free-meals/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce8e9abe61523ba2/69887dd5a988ca34036b69d4/ted-cruz-south-carolina1.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Presidential Candidate Ted Cruz Holds South Carolina Campaign Rally og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ted Cruz Pledges Not to Provide Gluten-Free Meals to the Military twitter:description: He equated the meals with a culture of political correctness twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce8e9abe61523ba2/69887dd5a988ca34036b69d4/ted-cruz-south-carolina1.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ted Cruz Pledges Not to Provide Gluten-Free Meals to the Military > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Feb 16, 2016 6:02 PM UTC  Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 presidential candidate, speaks during a campaign event in Aiken, S.C., on Feb. 15. Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 presidential candidate, speaks during a campaign event in Aiken, S.C., on Feb. 15. Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Feb 16, 2016 6:02 PM UTC Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz looked to gain the support of military voters in South Carolina on Tuesday, promising to build a robust military if elected and [pledged not to provide gluten-free military meals](http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/16/politics/ted-cruz-military-speech-gluten-free/index.html?sr=twCNN021616ted-cruz-military-speech-gluten-free0411PMVODtopLink&linkId=21313301), which he equated with a culture of political correctness. “That’s why the last thing any commander should need to worry about is the grades he is getting from some plush-bottomed Pentagon bureaucrat for political correctness or social experiments—or providing gluten-free MREs,” Cruz said, using the shorthand term for Meal, Ready-to-Eat, CNN reported. About 1% of Americans have celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that makes a person intolerant to gluten, according to the Celiac Disease Foundation. A spokesman for the Department of Defense said the provision of gluten-free meals differs based on the military branch. During the remarks in Mount Pleasant, S.C., Cruz criticized President Barack Obama for “seven years of neglect” of the U.S. military, [according to Charlotte WBT radio](http://wbt.com/ted-cruz-assails-obama-for-years-of-neglect-of-us-military/). “It is time for America to once again prioritize a strong, advanced and robust military,” he said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4225884/ted-cruz-military-gluten-free-meals/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4225884/ted-cruz-military-gluten-free-meals/"},"headline":"Ted Cruz Pledges Not to Provide Gluten-Free Meals to the Military","datePublished":"2016-02-16T18:02:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:30.691Z","description":"He equated the meals with a culture of political correctness","url":"https://time.com/4225884/ted-cruz-military-gluten-free-meals/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","ted cruz"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce8e9abe61523ba2/69887dd5a988ca34036b69d4/ted-cruz-south-carolina1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce8e9abe61523ba2/69887dd5a988ca34036b69d4/ted-cruz-south-carolina1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Presidential Candidate Ted Cruz Holds South Carolina Campaign Rally","caption":"Presidential Candidate Ted Cruz Holds South Carolina Campaign Rally","creditText":"Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4225884/ted-cruz-military-gluten-free-meals/","name":"Ted Cruz Pledges Not to Provide Gluten-Free Meals to the Military"}}]}] ```