South Carolina is less than a week away from its Republican primary on Feb. 24, and former Gov. Nikki Haley is ramping up her bus tour around the Palmetto State. 

Haley hosted her second Lexington County rally in a week’s time on Feb 17, and the chilly weather did nothing to stop more than 200 people from reaching Irmo Town Park’s amphitheater’s capacity.

The audience was filled with children and eager adults there to support the former Palmetto State governor, xbut the crowd seemed to be primarily made up of veterans who cheered in support of Haley's campaign promise to better veteran affairs nationwide.

Veterans sported service caps from several eras of American history; some wore hats representing service in Vietnam and others from Desert Storm. Michelle Carpenter wore her service cap not to honor an era but to honor her 21 years with the Coast Guard. 

“I enjoyed my job, I really did,” Carpenter told the Chronicle. 

Carpenter retired from the Coast Guard in 2011, ranking as an E6, but since her retirement, she like many other veterans across the state, has faced long waits for appointments and questionable mental care.

“The main problem with the VA is the timeframe to get an appointment,” Carpenter said. “I’ve been rescheduled so many times and all they do is call and say, ‘Oh, we’re gonna reschedule you,’ which takes a few months. And the mental health, it's horrible mental health care.”

“[Service members] go over and do all that stuff and then come back and the systems are broken, mental health in America is broken period but when you serve, sometimes you need to be fixed and that’s just not happening right now,” she added.

Haley’s campaign promise to better Veterans Affairs and healthcare for veterans came with a notation that if Congress could only go to a VA hospital, it would be the best medical treatment in the nation.

“I think every member of Congress should have to get their health care from the VA, and you watch how fast that gets fixed,” Haley said to the audience. “It'll be the best health care you've ever seen, guaranteed.”

South Carolina has a population of more than 350,000 veterans, more than 36% of which served in the Vietnam War, according to a five-year (2017-2021) community report completed by the Housing Assistance Council.

The HAC is a national nonprofit organization that aims to increase affordable housing in the rural U.S.

The report also states that one in 10 in Lexington County adults served in the military, similar to Charleston, Horry and Richland counties. 

As expected, the counties with the highest veteran populations are near or include a military base within the county.

“It was hard to get a job after I retired,” Carpenter said. “It was hard. Like Haley said, when you come out of the military it's hard intermingling back into the civilian world.” 

Haley related to the Irmo audience by telling stories of when her husband, Michael Haley, came home from a year-long deployment in Afghanistan.

“When Michael came home to us, that was a lot of prayers answered,” Haley said. “But that was the easy part. When we got home, life got hard, Michael couldn't hear loud noises. He couldn't be in crowds. Life had passed him by for the year that he was gone. And the transition was tough.”

Haley’s husband is a member of the S.C. Army National Guard and in June 2023 he volunteered for deployment in Djibouti, Africa.

“We can't just love our men and women when they're gone, we gotta love them when they come back home, too,” said Haley. “That's why we need to have telehealth, so they can get the mental health care they need right when they need it.”

Irmo Town Council Member Erik Sickinger was in attendance, representing the town rather than himself as a voter.

He told the Chronicle that he’s glad Lexington County seems to be a hot spot for the 2024 election campaign season.

“Irmo is a really good cross-section of the country,” he told the Chronicle. “ It's not heavily Republican or heavily Democrat, and if Irmo voters show out in support of her, I think that creates a really good argument for her as she runs for president.” 

Accompanying council member was Whitt Cline, director of public works for the town,  and Courtney Dennis, Irmo’s town administrator.

“We enjoy having her and other candidates here,” Cline told the Chronicle. “It gives everybody in the town of Irmo and the area a chance to meet and hear what the candidates have to say.” 

“We'd love to have them (candidates) all here. We're excited about the rallies, it brings in people from around the area and lets everybody see what Irmo's got to give,” he added.

Haley continues to hit Lexington County and the state of South Carolina hard, though she continues to trail former president Donald Trump, the other Republican candidate still standing, by a lot in the polls. As of Feb. 18, FiveThirtyEight showed Trump outpacing Haley 63.6% to 31.5%.