Michael Haley is captain in the South Carolina National Guard; which he joined in 2006 and this is his first deployment to Afghanistan.

He will undergo a month-long training in Indiana before being leaving for Afghanistan where he will be deployed as part of a unit that will teach Afghan farmers to grow sustainable crops.

At the departure ceremony, Nikki Haley and her two children, daughter Rena, 14, and son Nalin, 10, were seen hugging Michael and wiping off tears alongside the families of other departing servicemen and women.

"We are a proud military family who understands the sacrifices any family goes through when a loved one is serving his or her country. This is what our men and women in uniform sign up for, and although Michael, like his brothers and sisters, is looking forward to his mission, we will miss him while he's away.

"Rena, Nalin and I are proud of Michael and will pray for his - and all others' - safe return," Nikki Haley wrote on her Facebook page.

"Praying for Nikki Haley's husband Michael and all of our troops as they serve our country overseas," Bobby Jindal, the Governor of Louisiana said in a tweet.

Jindal was the first Indian American Governor of any State. Nikki Haley followed by becoming the second Indian American Governor and the first Indian American woman governor of any US State.