South Carolina veterans must rally behind Mullikin for Congress

By Sergeant Major, Michael Mika, U.S. Army Special Forces (Ret.)

We need an infusion of truly great leadership and committed people who appreciate both the need to strengthen our military and to reform the political mess that has weakened it. For this reason and others, I’m backing Tom Mullikin in his campaign for the United States Congress.

Mullikin is not only an artful leader – both militarily and in business – he is a proven “solutions man.” Best of all, he’s a military veteran’s best friend. Hardly a platitude or simple campaign rhetoric when it comes to Mullikin; I’ve known the man for years, and I’ve witnessed first-hand his outreach to veterans from well-heeled field-grade and general-officers to the thousands of former soldiers with few resources who call South Carolina home.

Take for instance, the South Carolina chapter, Special Forces Association, an organization representing all active, Reserve, retired, and former U.S. Army Special Forces operators (Green Berets) in the Palmetto State.

Mullikin has not only supported the organization with large financial contributions over the years, but he and his wife Virginia Ann have opened up their home to many receptions and other events for the active duty and retired Special Forces soldiers as well as supporting The Special Forces Charitable Trust whose mission is “the “go-to” organization for assistance and support when a Special Forces member is in need. Such initiatives as raising money for families of fallen soldiers, and providing substantial support to other military organizations including the Montagnard community; the original “mountain people” of Vietnam who fought valiantly beside our Green Berets in Southeast Asia and who have helped train our special operators since that conflict.

Beyond this, Mullikin has for years now, generously provided free office space for Special Forces soldiers, active and retired living in South Carolina. He was a top-tier supporter both financially – along with other national leaders like Ross Perot – and in-kind of our 2014 Special Forces Association International Conference that was held in Columbia and around the state. And his work with – and ultimately command of – the historic S.C. State Guard is simply unmatched.

Mullikin himself is a soldier. In uniform, he served as a U.S. Army JAG officer. Later he donned the three-piece suit of an accomplished attorney wherein he served as special assistant to the Chief (military) Prosecutor for Military Commissions in GTMO responsible for the trial of terrorist mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four co-defendants.

Today, as commander of the historic S.C. State Guard (which shares a parallel lineage with Army Special Forces going back to Brig. Gen. Francis Marion), Mullikin leads nearly 1,000 men and women, many of whom are former or retired U.S. Army Rangers, Army Special Forces operators, U.S. Air Force aircrews and support personnel, former members of the U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine riflemen and supporting Marines.

For all this and so much more, in 2012, I was honored to award him the title “Honorary Green Beret” from the Charles Q. Williams Memorial Chapter XXXIV, and a few years later I was proud to witness both his recognition by the Montagnard community as well as his being awarded U.S. Army jump wings by a U.S. Army special operations jumpmaster following the many foreign airborne wings he had previously earned with jumps alongside foreign paratroopers from the airborne forces of several foreign nations.

A soldier’s soldier? That may be understating it a bit when considering Mullikin’s
lifelong work – in and out of uniform – for and with American soldiers. Why this passion for soldiers, broadly speaking, and military veterans overall? Tom Mullikin is simply a patriot, an attribute instilled in him primarily by his father who served in an ad hoc U.S. Army special missions unit, “Rogers Raiders,” during World War II.

Mullikin’s service to and within the military is one for the books. But he’s not finished. I served under many general-officers in the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and in the S.C. State Guard; and can attest that Maj. Gen. (SC) Tom Mullikin is a general’s general. Simply stated; Mullikin listens, assesses, makes tough decisions, executes and succeeds.

Mullikin now wants to change the dismissive culture Washington seems to have for its military veterans. The Veterans Administration is a mess to put it mildly – an unfortunate carry-over from the aforementioned political mess – as are our Veterans hospitals. Worse, many of our veterans – those who are either homeless, struggling to pay their bills or existing on the fringes in some remote section of a VA hospital without adequate or timely healthcare – appear as if they’ve been thrown away by society.

Mullikin will change all of this. I know him. I know what he has done. I know what he will do, and I fully support him.

– Sergeant Major Michael Mika, U.S. Army (Ret.), was a Special Forces soldier during the Vietnam War. He today serves as a field-grade officer in the S.C. State Guard.