Global Expedition leader recognized by military support group

By Alex Junes-Ward

Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Tom Mullikin, SCSG, was honored by the South Carolina Military Support Foundation (SCMSF) for his leadership in both planning and directing POWERPLANTSC and his chairmanship of the S.C. Floodwater Commission.

The recognition, a plaque commending Mullikin, was presented by Michelle McCollum, president of the S.C. National Heritage Corridor and publisher of THE SOUTHERN EDGE magazine, on behalf of the SCMSF, Thurs., May 27, at the Mullikin Law Firm complex in Camden.

“This recognition today is so-deserved,” said S.C. Senator Thomas Alexander. “What Maj. Gen. Tom Mullikin accomplished in a single day took months of planning and preparation, and as usual he carried it off with great aplomb making it look easy when there is nothing easy in any of the huge projects he leads.”

In April, Mullikin directed POWERPLANTSC, the largest-ever single-day statewide tree planting effort in American history, planting over 3.4 million loblolly pine tree seeds and a few saplings across South Carolina. Mullikin conceived, planned, and led the entire operation which included multiple agencies and private sector partners; everyone from Duke Energy to Dominion Energy, the S.C. Dept. of Education, the S.C. Dept. of Corrections, the S.C. Forestry Commission, all Boy Scouts of America councils in S.C., and so many others.

Mullikin was also personally chosen by S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster to lead the gubernatorially established S.C. Floodwater Commission in 2018. Mullikin is the founding chairman of that commission, which is tasked with seeking solutions and identifying and implementing short-term and long-term recommendations to alleviate and mitigate flood impacts to the Palmetto State, with an emphasis on the coastal and river-based communities.

“Tom has done tremendous work in both directing POWERPLANTSC and chairing the Floodwater Commission,” said Brig. Gen. John Geiger, S.C. Military Dept.–Joint Services Det. and pres. of the SCMSF. “These things with all the weighty responsibilities and the successes stemming from them are why we are recognizing him in this way.”

An energy-environmental attorney and global expedition leader, Mullikin is a former U.S. Army officer and retired commanding general of the S.C. State Guard. A member of the famed Explorers Club and the London-based Royal Geographical Society, Mullikin has led arduous backcountry expeditions to every continent on earth, often at the head of picked teams of former and recently retired U.S. military special operators. He has logged SCUBA dives in every ocean (including the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans), and he has summited the highest mountains on four continents.

Established after the 2010 national Medal of Honor convention in Charleston, S.C., and formed by the convention’s executive committee, the SCMSF provides aid and support to military organizations and military veterans programs like the ongoing Fisher House project in Columbia.

– Alex Junes-Ward is a S.C.-based freelance writer.