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Touching Photos: S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley and Her Family Give Tearful Sendoff to Her Husband as He Deploys to Afghanistan

Jan. 10, 2013 9:21pm Jason Howerton

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, left, comforts her son, Nalin, 10, and her daughter, Rena, 14, as her husband, Capt. Michael Haley, right, gets ready for a deployment ceremony for the South Carolina Army National Guard 3/49 Agribusiness Development Team at McCrady Training Center, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013, at Ft. Jackson, S.C. The deployment is scheduled for a year including one month of training in Indiana prior to leaving for Afghanistan. Credit: AP

FORT JACKSON, S.C.(TheBlaze/AP) — South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and her family bid a tearful farewell to her husband Michael on Thursday as he departed with a National Guard unit for a month of training and then deployment to Afghanistan.

Capt. Michael Haley wrapped his arms around his wife and two children, ages 10 and 14, as his unit was given a send-off by several hundred family members, friends and Guard officials at a National Guard site outside Columbia.

The Republican governor issued a statement saying “we are a proud military family who understands the sacrifices any family goes through when a loved one is serving his or her country.”

Haley’s spokesman, Rob Godfrey, said the governor’s office is not aware of any other governor’s spouse who is deployed with the uniformed military. A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen, said he could not answer the question of whether any governor’s spouses were deployed military and instead referred calls to each of the separate military service branches.

After Gov. Haley hugged their 10-year-old son Nalin and 14-year-old daughter Rena, the governor wrapped her arms around her husband and buried her head in his shoulder. Family members crowded around the small group, many wiping away tears. The governor stepped away, dabbing her nose with a handkerchief as she appeared to be fighting back tears, after giving her husband multiple kisses.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, right, hugs her husband, Capt. Michael Haley during a deployment ceremony for the South Carolina Army National Guard 3/49 Agribusiness Development Team at McCrady Training Center, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013, at Ft. Jackson, S.C. Credit: AP

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, center, comforts her son, Nalin, 10, and her daughter, Rena, 14, as her husband, Michael Haley, left, gets ready for a deployment ceremony for the South Carolina Army National Guard 3/49 Agribusiness Development Team at McCrady Training Center, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013, at Ft. Jackson, S.C. The deployment is scheduled for a year including one month of training in Indiana prior to leaving for Afghanistan. Credit: AP

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley watches as her husband, Michael Haley boards a bus during a deployment ceremony for the South Carolina Army National Guard 3/49 Agribusiness Development Team at McCrady Training Center, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013, at Ft. Jackson, S.C. Credit: AP

Haley’s unit is not scheduled to return to South Carolina before departing on its yearlong mission. It is the third South Carolina Army National Guard group to spend a year working with Afghan farmers to improve farming practices. It is formally known as the 3-49th Agribusiness Development Team and will work in Helmand province.

Michael Haley joined the guard as an officer in 2006. This will be his first deployment overseas. He has served as a medical service corps officer and a planning officer in the Guard’s Columbia headquarters.

Guard officials said Haley’s background as a businessman would be helpful to the unit as it works with Afghan farmers to sell their crops and improve the ways they bring them to market.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, center, waves goodbye to her husband, Michael Haley during a deployment ceremony for the South Carolina Army National Guard 3/49 Agribusiness Development Team at McCrady Training Center, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013, at Ft. Jackson, S.C. The deployment is scheduled for a year including one month of training in Indiana prior to leaving for Afghanistan. (Credit: AP)

Maj. Gen. Robert E. Livingston, Jr., State Adjutant General and head of the Guard, said Haley’s unit has trained for months to better understand the rudimentary nature of Afghan agriculture.

But Gov. Haley’s husband will receive no special treatment treatment because of who he is married to, Livingston added.

“Each soldier, each family is special to us, and the Haleys are part of our National Guard family,” he said. “He has always been and always will be treated like any other soldier.”

Haley’s commander, Lt. Col. Todd Shealy, acknowledged there is always some danger when an individual in the public eye serves as a soldier in a combat region, and mentioned the military service in Afghanistan of Britain’s Prince Harry.

“It does make him more of a target,” Shealy said of Haley. “But there are some particular things to do to minimize that threat,” he added, pointedly not defining what they might be.

“We want Capt. Haley to be allowed to be Capt. Haley,” he added.

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Comments (101)

ScottG-CO
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 12:58am
God bless you Captain! I hope you return to a country that deserves your service- rather than what I fear it will be by then…………

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- RightUnite
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 6:37am
  Amen!
  
  Report this comment
- @leftfighter
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 8:50am
  To paraphrase a verse…
  
  Greater love has no woman than this, that she send her own husband into a war zone so that he may lay down his life for a friend.
  
  Report this comment
- LIBERTARIAN T38
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 12:32pm
  God bless him. Man, the liberals must really hate her now. He’s going to fight their friends.
  
  Report this comment
- jakartaman
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 2:43pm
  Thank You Captain
  May Jesus be on your shoulder!
  
  Report this comment
- Red Meat
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 3:17pm
  Halley was the first pol on the Romney Lose Train®
  
  She turned out to be some conservative Tea Partier huh? Kinda like dirtbag A. West.
  
  Report this comment
CommonSense41
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 12:48am
watt,
That is why i am pro abortion. People like you should have been aborted. There is no reason that **** like you should exist.

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- kat4568
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 1:27pm
  Commonsense41, watt’s mom, after the abortion should have been sterilized so no other mistake could have been produced.
  
  Report this comment
CommonSense41
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 12:39am
What is going on? Did the US army teach German and Japanese farmers how to run farms after WWII? The army purpose is to defeat the enemy not being a Salvation Army. How many sons and daughters we should loose in the forbidden land to teach the savages how to run farms? It is outrage.
Did you hear about other government spouses deployed to Afghanistan? It is BHO retaliation against S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley.

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- crazyrightwingmom
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 10:09am
  Of course…we stayed for years to get those countries up and running.
  But they were shooting at us..they were defeated and grateful. I feel like we are wasting our time and wonderful men over there.
  
  Report this comment
- crazyrightwingmom
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 10:30am
  sorry…they WEREN’T shooting at us
  
  Report this comment
- SUNTZU
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 10:55am
  MOM
  In germany they were.
  Shooting that is
  History,and my Father said so.
  
  Report this comment
- 4BlueStars
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:06am
  It is a waste of blood and treasure to think we can ever win the hearts and minds of those savages. Their commitment is to their demonic prophet and his moon god.
  
  Report this comment
- Walkabout
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 2:22pm
  SUNTZU
  
  There were some instance such as Werewolf. Werewolf was fairly quickly defeated. How many casualties are we talking about?
  
  Report this comment
- Al J Zira
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 2:30pm
  @4BlueStars: I’ll disagree with your statement. I don’t think we’re trying to change who they worship but how to make a meager living, feed their families and develop some type of trade. That
  s more than their own government has done for them in centuries. The people will appreciate it but you will never hear about it.
  
  Report this comment
- Libertyluvnmomma
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 4:34pm
  bluestar is right.
  When you worship demons you become savage.
  
  Report this comment
synergy4one
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 12:16am
To the next President of the United States, I say, Be honest, Be true, Be prayerful, Be humble, Be willing, and continue to stand for something. Unlike the current president, maybe you can end this stupid war.

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KidCharlemagne
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 11:17pm
“It is the third South Carolina Army National Guard group to spend a year working with Afghan farmers to improve farming practices. It is formally known as the 3-49th Agribusiness Development Team and will work in Helmand province.”
==================

What is Helmand province famous for?:

————–
“Helmand is believed to be one of the world’s largest opium-producing regions, responsible for around 75% of the world’s total production.”
Helmand Province

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watt
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 11:00pm
If I may, I would like for a minute to play the role of “conspiracy theory lunatic” normally found on this site and say: Clearly a photo op. She probably secretly ordered his unit to be called up for not only the photo op, but also so she has plenty of time to cheat on him as much as she wants.
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- moreoilplease
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 11:09pm
  It’s not a conspiracy you spew. It’s just mean and in-human absurdities you are spewing from your vomit hole.
  
  Report this comment
- chingachgook
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 12:00am
  you are crude you obviously have never lived in harms way. Just being over there put you in harms way. Just keep talking so all will know you.
  
  Report this comment
- PiratePhil
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 12:05am
  What a despicable, disgraceful excuse for a human being you are. Pathetic, without honor, the slime that makes pedophiles look redeemable. What a personal hell it must be to know the waste your existence here on earth is.
  
  Report this comment
- ApostolicIlx
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 12:30am
  You are officially lower than Whale offal….and that is at the bottom of the sea. Congratulations, goal achieved.
  
  Report this comment
- watt
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 12:52am
  Now you all know how I feel every day when I read the comments on this site.
  
  Report this comment
- marine249
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 1:37am
  @WATT
  
  Question, Watt.
  
  When are you joining the human race? you horse’s azz.
  
  Report this comment
- Gorp
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 2:52am
  @ WATT: You said, “Now you all know how I feel every day when I read the comments on this site.”
  
  If that is truly the way you feel about this site why the hell do you come back for the torture that it must be for you? It must be Masochism or something like that for you because you must really love to come back here for the pain of it all.
  
  Report this comment
- BDtheCD
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 9:26am
  Did you ever serve your country? Until you have, just say “Thank you” to those that do and those that have died fighting for the freedom we (and you) have..
  
  Report this comment
- watt
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 10:04am
  Why do I come back? Entertainment. The majority of people on this site say some of the funniest, most hypocritical, backwards things every day.
  
  Report this comment
- nocalifornia
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 10:04am
  I think you and your posts need to be reported soooooo many times that your post will automatically be deleted before you can offend people. After all thats how you socialist ****** do things.
  
  Report this comment
- gyro
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 10:24am
  watt = your a fool
  
  Report this comment
- CarolinaGirl
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 10:46am
  Hey Low Watt……Go back to the hole in the ground of which you crawled out. You are a slug and inhuman.
  
  Report this comment
- Kara_ite
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:03am
  WATT “the challenged” states, ” Now you all know how I feel every day when I read the comments on …”
  Why would you want to read comments on a site that make you feel cruppy? Are you a masochist?
  Are you paid to read the comments everyday? Are you a paid SEIU troll?
  
  Report this comment
- Sweetrae
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 5:17pm
  Not surprising that someone like you who has what amounts to Yak squeeze between their ears would make such an idiotic statement like that. You are a waste of a warm body and useful donor organs.
  
  Report this comment
- Sweetrae
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 5:21pm
  Not surprising that someone like you that has the equivalent of Yak squeeze between the ears would make such an idiotic statement. You are a waste of a warm body and useable donor organs.
  It’s unfortunate that people like Col. Haley fight for Mao loving vermin like you who wouldn’t be fit to clean a toilet that he just used.
  
  Report this comment
- Gorp
  Posted on January 15, 2013 at 1:59am
  At Watt: .yad yreve sgniht sdrawkcab ,lacitircopyh tsom ,tseinnuf eht fo emos yas etis siht no elpoep fo ytirojam ehT
  
  Report this comment
- Gorp
  Posted on January 15, 2013 at 2:02am
  Oh. Oh. “Backwards things” not “Things Backwards”, Right?
  
  Report this comment
Henry22
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:48pm
What a wonderful family…………!!!! God Bless us all………….

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- zman173rd
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 3:21pm
  I hope he fares well. I wonder about the others though. Those who aren’t husbands and wives of governors. Those who’s husbands and wives will barely scrape through while their loved one’s are off to war. Seems a bit off center to post a story without giving consideration to all those involved. I haven’t been keeping up with how many we consistantly keep in the war zone. How often we have to recycle the numbers of our good men and women in uniform. It’s longer than VietNam now. Not as many, and we’re better tranined with better weapons and more ways to saves lives than before. But we still can’t whip em’. When we’re gone inside three years they’ll be back to the same old ways.
  
  Report this comment
TRILO
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:21pm
I thank him and his family for their service. However, what a waste time, effort, money and most important lives as we continue to send our men and women to a country that hates us; to fight an undefined war against people we are not even able to label as terrorists, pedophiles or any other derogatory name. Not to mention the ridiculous rules of engagement that handicap our soldiers. For what end? No one knows anymore.

Add to that the covert war being fought by the CIA and military contractors all across the Middle East and Africa.

Our country is being run by a bunch of egomaniac thugs who care more about world power and $$$ than freedom and liberties. Thank you democrats and republicans who keep voting for the same status quo.

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- Kathleen3
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:40pm
  Coming from a military family I am sorry to say I agree with you.
  
  Report this comment
- neverending
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:46pm
  Agree with you 100%
  
  Report this comment
- asybot12
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 4:43am
  for a bit I was taken aback by your comments and then I have to agree up to a point .
  But what really p-o’s me is not the power grabs these jerks from both sides do, it is the many many young exceptional talented men and women they use for fodder!
  Can they even sleep at night? I take one look at that 80 year old fossil that runs the Senate and the weepy “man” that runs c
  Congress and their counterparts and PLEASE what do we do to stop this??
  
  Report this comment
JustJP
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:18pm
God Speed Michael. Be safe over there

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GeorgieJo
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:12pm
GOD BLESS this soldier!!!!!

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- Shellback
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 8:10am
  And the Gov. No Aristocracy here. Very touching and succinct. I wonder if the LSM even covers this story, just guessing not; because this would set an impossible standard to follow. My thoughts and prayers are with this family.
  
  Report this comment
LoveBringsTruth
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:00pm
Good man. May the constitution and protection of GOD be with you Mr. Haley.

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- Vickie Dhaene
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:09am
  Amen.
  
  Report this comment
yooperjo
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:59pm
To “Whatthecrazy”: Gov. Haley is of Indian descent, and the man in the turban is probably a Sikh. Grow up.

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- marine249
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:36pm
  you will find a few “whats” in every group.
  
  Report this comment
- whatthecrazy
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 4:31pm
  Again yoop i read your last responce to me and this is just as hatefull as the last one,so again my responce to you is SHOVE IT.I don’t know what side you are on but i hope it is not my side because telling someone to grow up is just childish and now that i think of it,how funny that i take so much space in that tiny little brain of yours lololololololol………………….
  
  Report this comment
- whatthecrazy
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 4:57pm
  @ Marine249 Im not really sure what you mean when you say there are What’s in every group but i feel like it was not a compliment and if that is the case you too can shove it and i will be the better person here and say thank you for your service if you are indeed a Marine.Btw does serving your Country give you the right to be hatefull to a fellow American?
  
  Report this comment
neverending
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:58pm
Thoughts and prayers for the Governor, the safety of her husband and the children as they face this journey. Makes me sick that they even have to go because we do not have a commander in chief worthy of their service. We have a commie in the whitehouse with only one thing in mind and that is bringing this country down. Bring them all home EVERYONE of them.

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soybomb315_II
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:57pm
i didnt know they were still sending national guard units overseas….Sucks

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rochrealtor
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:55pm
God bless you Captain Haley, thank you for your wonderful, true blue American wife. You all are in my prayers.

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whatthecrazy
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:47pm
Now thats what i call Patriotic Americans including those children.We pray all these men and women come home safe and sound to thier loved ones.

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truthseekerusa
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:45pm
Thoughts and prayers for this fine example of a wife serving the country as a governor and her husband serving the country in the armed forces.

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colascguy
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:44pm
As someone from SC I would recomend that you goto fitsnews and read some of his takes on our Gov,

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whatthecrazy
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:42pm
Here we go again,did every body see the red turbin in the last photo?Who is he waving to i wonder?Perhaps his brother in jihad?I will never get used to seeing those things,they just do not fit well in a Christain Nation,it’s so oxcy moron.

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- 700P
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:56pm
  That’s a Sikh
  
  Report this comment
- yooperjo
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:57pm
  You idiot. Gov. Haley is of Indian descent and the man in the turban is probably Sikh. Grow up.
  
  Report this comment
- catty
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:02pm
  He is Indian dumba**. Most likely Hindu.
  Perhaps he is waving to his son or daughter leaving to serve our country. Try not to be so unpatriotic.
  
  Report this comment
- whatthecrazy
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 3:19pm
  @700p thanks for the info.while i was trying to be a bit funny you cleared that up for me in a kind way. @YOOP And CATTY shove it with your hatefull responces,i don’t agree with alot of things said but i don;t call other bloggers hatefull names………
  
  Report this comment
DADDYWOREAWHITEHAT
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:42pm
Why are we still sending them farm instruction after 12 years? Do they not want to grow anything but poppies? At some point we should have cut our losses there. They don’t appreciate the treasure we have spent on them & IMHO I think they need an intervention & some tough response. We starve US farmers out of business without water in CA but we send our treasure to afghans when we should have pulled out completely by now. If they slip back into the wrong govt after all this time then we should learn what the Russians learned, that these people are not worth it. If they become al Qaeda controlled again they deserve to become a cat litter box all of them.

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- soybomb315_II
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:58pm
  Only one candidate understood what you are talking about
  
  Report this comment
- moreoilplease
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 11:49pm
  Farming poppies is not why we are there. Regurgitated Vietnam conspiracy theories. Expand your mind with knowledge not half baked conspiracy theories from Alex Jones. He mixes a little truth in with absurd notions and totally unprovable theories and tells you to look it up knowing you will most likely not do it. I have and it is almost never the way Jones claims it is.
  
  And all the treasure we spent on Afghanistan? The money came right back to our economy through contractors and soldiers pay. Very little of the total money we have spent in Afghanistan actually stayed there. This doesn’t mean it’s OK, just objective truth.
  
  Report this comment
- Walkabout
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 2:28pm
  I would not say very little money stays there. We pay for the Afghan national army & other stuff. We also pay local contractors. I suspect that there are fewer local contractors than in Iraq.
  
  I also suspect that graft & corruption is higher than in Iraq. Karzai’s brother is at the center of it.
  
  Report this comment
randy
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:39pm
May God bless you, and keep your family safe Nikki.

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paulsavage1
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:37pm
Kudos to the whole family……you make this us all proud

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Free_Thought
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:32pm
Crocodile tears.

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- LastAmerican
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:42pm
  Who Obama?
  
  Report this comment
- DixiesDad
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:44pm
  Dick
  
  Report this comment
- Free_Thought
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:09pm
  Not obama
  
  Report this comment
- Anonymous T. Irrelevant
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:43pm
  I take it you’ve never had family in the service? You are nothing but a coward, contrarian, TROLL, @$$ CLOWN. Anything conservative you razz and say bad things about.
  
  Report this comment
- Walkabout
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 9:47am
  Typical Republican family.
  
  -No problem with serving in the armed forces.
  -Goes overseas when called
  -Mixed interracial family; it is not a big thing it just is.
  
  Interracial families among republicans just happen. Both side have the same values. Among Democrats leadership interracial families are something that must be forced by penalty of law. The F_____crats sent up their trial balloon in 1999 trying to see if they could get that accomplished.
  .
  
  Report this comment
spirited
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:31pm
God speed……

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kickagrandma
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:29pm
Praying for you all in JESUS’ SWEET AND MIGHTY NAME, amen.

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