Please don't call them “military brats” but rather appreciate the impact the U.S. military has had on these five current Georgia State Panthers. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines or Coast Guard, they've got them all covered.
Five GSU student-athletes now. Five different backgrounds to get here. They were born in Seoul, Korea, San Diego, Calif., Perth, Australia, Arlington, Va. and Ft. Benning, Ga. Two have even gone through a military boot camp themselves.
Let's salute these short military family stories of five Panthers: Tatianna Jackson, D'Arcy Draper, Ashlee Cole, Erica Norwood and Kierra Henry.
Tatianna Jackson
Born in San Diego, Calif., Tatianna Jackson also lived for three years in Japan, as well as Korea, where father Quincy was stationed with the U.S. Navy. Chief Petty Officer Quincy Jackson has served in the Navy since 1993 and is currently serving at Naval Station Mayport (Jacksonville, Fla.) with the Navy Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and commutes back to Atlanta when he can to be with the family.
He served on the USS Blue Ridge, a command ship, based in Yokosuka, Japan, among other ships and at other bases.
“Growing up, I remember him being out to sea a lot,” Tatianna said. “We'd go to the bases and see the ships come and go, with the going away being harder than the coming home. I would sleep in his tee-shirts a lot while he was gone to feel close to him.”
Tatianna and her family has lived in Georgia since she was nine years old and she grew up in metro Atlanta and played her basketball at Lovett, often without dad being able to be in the stands. But, sometimes it works out dad can be there. When Tatianna suffered an injury in a practice at Stetson on Dec. 19 this year and had to go to the emergency room for x-rays and hobble on crutches, who showed up to check on her? Yes, dad Quincy was able to drive down from Jacksonville and make sure his daughter was AOK.
The Navy influence won't stop with her dad because younger brother, Quincy, also signed up to serve in the Navy. “He finished his boot camp north of Chicago (Great Lakes) on Sept. 4, has been in Pensacola, Fla. this fall and will report to duty in Hawaii in late January,” big sister Tatianna reported.
Anchors Aweigh, Jacksons….”until we meet once more, here's wishing you a happy voyage home.”
D'Arcy Draper
From a long line of a military family, D'Arcy Draper is the daughter of a mother who served in the U. S. Army.
“There are lots of my relatives who are serving and have served in the military,” D'Arcy said. “My grandfather (Howell Martin on mother's side) is a captain and Navy pilot. My uncle was in the Marines, I have cousins now in the Coast Guard and Army. Mom was in Perth, Australia, when I was born.”
With all that military tradition, it only seemed fitting that D'Arcy went to the Air Force Prep Academy herself. “I was two weeks out of high school and I left home for Colorado Springs and the Academy,” she recalled. “We went through the boot camp that summer and I spent the year there, but it does not count as a year of NCAA eligibility in the Prep Academy. I actually played soccer first and basketball second, but when I broke my foot, I couldn't compete and came back to junior college.”
Is there still more military longings in her blood? “You know, I have always wanted to be a pilot and that was an early dream of mine. So, it is still a possibility for me to try and achieve that lofty goal.”
That's what you call a full military family, isn't it? They cover the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard all by themselves. That's a big American salute to this family.
Ashlee Cole
Born in Seoul, Korea, Ashlee Cole knows just one proud military color in her family: Army Green.
Cole's mother, Nathalie, served more than 20 years in the U.S. Army from those early days in Korea to a tour of duty in Kuwait before retiring from active duty.
“She had to serve a lot of places and we had some times where we couldn't be with her, but my brothers and I understood,” Ashlee said.
Speaking of her two brothers, Ashlee had some good footsteps to follow. Older brother Marqus graduated from Georgia State and went to Law School. Second brother Timmy has followed mom into the U.S. Army.
“Timmy has been in the Army for two years now and is currently stationed out in Colorado,” little sis Ashee noted.
“For where'er we go, you will always know, that the Army goes rolling along” with the Cole family.
Erica Norwood
The son of two Army parents, Erica Norwood was born in Arlington, Va. where dad was stationed at the Pentagon. Dad Andre also served a tour of duty in Germany. But when mom Elrica delivered a son that meant time to settle down in one place.
“The military had a strong influence to me and my parents saw some of the benefits of military service,” Erica said.
When Erica finished high school in Atlanta and her jersey was retired at Campbell High School, she gave the military lifestyle a try herself.
“In high school, I was recruited by a coach at Kennesaw State and when she took a job at the Air Force, she told me about their Prep Academy in Colorado Springs,” Erica noted as she headed west.
“Military training at the Air Force Prep School is centered on the Air Force Core Values: Integrity First, Service before Self, and excellence In All We Do. Military training is a part of a cadet candidate's everyday life.”
“The Air Force Prep was a good experience and a tough grind that makes you a better person,” Erica added. She got plenty of athletic experience as well. “It was kind of like playing junior college ball,” she noted. Norwood averaged 21 points a game in 32 games at Air Force Prep.
Before you judge the 5-foot-4 guard's size as maybe not being tough, beware because everyone knows that “Nothing can stop the U.S. Air Force.”
Kierra Henry
The Army recruited a good one when it talked Kierra's mother Katrina into an R.O.T.C. scholarship as a freshman in college. The Army helped pay for mom's college education and she had a guaranteed job of taking care of soldiers while serving her country.
Kierra's mother was stationed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii and Martin Army Community Hospital at Fort Benning, Ga., where Kierra was born in 1997.
Katrina parlayed that military training into a full-time health care career in Atlanta as a Clinical Manager in the Family Centered Care at Northside Hospital, which delivers more babies than any hospital in the country. Freshman Kierra is considering a career in physical therapy or athletic training as a follow-up in that health care field thanks to mom's influence.
“My Godfather is still serving in the Army now as well,” Henry added.
Getting soldiers healthy again while having a healthy career has provided a perfect match and good use of an R.O.T.C. scholarship for this mother and daughter. Go Army!
