Michael Haley, the husband of South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, heads to Afghanistan for a year-long deployment with the National Guard in January, The State reports.

Haley is a first lieutenant in the South Carolina National Guard and will be part of an agribusiness team in Afghanistan.

“This deployment is the reason I joined the National Guard,” said Haley in a statement. “It is important to me to be able to give back.”

“When your family gets the call, you have to respond,” said Gov. Haley, whose brother served in the first Persian Gulf War.

In a news conference Monday, the Republican governor admitted: “Do you worry? Yes, of course you worry… all needs to be well on the home front. And so we will be fine here, and he just needs to take care of himself when he’s there.”

National Guard spokesman John Goheen said this is probably the first case of a sitting governor’s spouse being deployed to a combat zone.

Mr. Haley added, “Giving one year along with my fellow soldiers, as many have done before me, to secure a life of freedom for my family is well worth all that comes with it.”

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