By Alex Junes-Ward
Tom Mullikin, recently appointed
Connor, the emergency preparedness liaison officer (EPLO) for South Carolina, presented Mullikin with a plaque following a series of meetings at the State Emergency Operations Center, Feb. 8.
A portion of the plaque reads, “For exemplary leadership while in command of the South Carolina State Guard, 2014-2018.”
Mullikin has served S.C. and the nation, both in-and-out of uniform, for nearly 25 years. A former U.S. Army JAG officer serving as both trial counsel attached to the U.S. ARMY SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND, and as a self-defense instructor (Mullikin holds a Black Belt in traditional karate and is a certified Army Master Fitness Instructor) teaching ‘combatives’ to soldiers. He later served in a civilian capacity as Special Assistant to the Chief Prosecutor of Military Commissions overseeing the trial of terrorist mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and other 9/11 terrorists. After a decade in the Army followed by another in the S.C. Military Dept., Mullikin ultimately retired as the commander of the S.C. State Guard.
A Camden-based attorney, global expedition leader, and university professor, Mullikin was directed by S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster to lead the new gubernatorially established SCFC in Oct. 2018.
Connor, a U.S. Army Reserve Infantry officer (Airborne Ranger) who also served in both the regular Army and the S.C. Army National Guard, is a former senior U.S. military adviser in Helmand Province, Afghanistan and a recent distinguished honor graduate of the Army War College. In addition to his civilian law practice in Orangeburg and his statewide EPLO duties, Connor serves as chairman of the SCFC’s National Security Task Force.
Both men graduated from the USC School of Law.
U.S. Army North (formerly designated the U.S. Fifth Army) is a U.S. Army component command of the UNITED STATES NORTHERN COMMAND.
