Be thankful at Thanksgiving
If you have eyes to see the beauty about you, be thankful.
Church News – November 21, 2018
Please send your church news and photos to: editor@newsandpress.net Yahweh Marriage Ministry of Darlington presents a “Night With My Love” on Dec. 8. Doors open at 6 p.m. This is a formal event with dinner served, pictures for the couples and a live band with games and other surprises. Tickets are $50 per couple. This event will be held at Bethel AME Church Fellowship Hall on 1333 S. Main Street, Darlington. For tickets call...
School concert raises $30,000 for families of officers
Trinity-Byrnes Collegiate School raised over $30,000 at a benefit concert Nov. 15 in the Sonoco gymnasium on the school’s campus in Darlington. Students planned the “Titans Back the Blue” event to raise funds for the families of the fallen and wounded law enforcement officers in the Oct. 3 incident in Florence. The evening began with singers from Cornerstone Baptist Church and Round O Missionary Baptist Church performing contemporary...
S.C. storm survivors can get aid from state, federal and voluntary agencies
Hurricane Florence survivors in South Carolina still have time to apply for federal disaster assistance. But you may need help beyond what FEMA can offer. Assistance may be available to individuals and families from other federal, state and volunteer organizations. State of South Carolina The S.C. Emergency Management Division serves as a resource for a range of public and private assistance available to Florence survivors. For...
Dad, twins have ‘identical’ stories
Courtesy of Fort Jackson
COLUMBIA — Identical twins are following in their dad’s footsteps at Fort Jackson. Both graduated as drill sergeants last month at Fort Jackson, where their father became a drill sergeant and later deputy commandant.
Randy Moorman, of Wrightsville, Ga,. was deputy commandant at Fort Jackson’s Drill Sergeant Academy from 2001 through 2003. Two of his daughters, Staff Sgts. Natasha and Natisha Moorman, identical twins born in Baumholder, Germany — where Moorman was stationed at the time — are on his heels.
By apparent chance, the family has created a legacy at Fort Jackson. Moorman met his wife, Linda, on post. She works with military records at Fort Jackson. Like father, like daughters, all three went through Basic Combat Training and the Academy here.
Moorman was 29 when he went on the trail, and the twins are 28. Natasha and Natisha are soon to return to Fort Jackson. They will report back to the installation Nov. 26 to serve as drill sergeants in the 193rd Infantry Brigade.
Natisha said returning to Fort Jackson is like “coming back home.” It’s a “weird feeling,” she added, calling it “bittersweet.”
She said it’s good to be back with family, but little travel and long days are ahead.
Moorman attended Fort Jackson’s Drill Sergeant Academy when he was assigned to the trail years ago, after originally enlisting in 1976. One decade later, in 1998, he returned to the company he drilled for as a first sergeant. After that, he became deputy commandant of the Academy.
Hearing from his daughters brought back memories. He said the process of becoming a drill sergeant has remained largely the same, even after all these years. He thinks it was “a little tougher” back then.
His daughters couldn’t disagree. “I can see that,” Natisha said, but added, “to us, it was still tough.”
Natasha said the difficulty of the Academy today is probably more suitable for their generation. Moorman helped them through their training.
“I had a lot of advice,” he said. In preparation, he practiced modules with them. “He broke (the modules) all down,” Natasha added.
Natisha said he helped make sure everything went smoothly during their stressful Academy days. “I’m so proud of them … they did really well,” he said.
The sisters said their father helped them know discipline at an early age. He instilled military values as they grew up. “I was very strict,” he said.
The Army and Moorman’s current position as deputy sheriff of probate court and family court in Columbia influenced his parenting style. Randy said he didn’t want them to end up in the same position as some of the kids he sees in the judicial system.
Born in the South in 1950, Randy joined the Army at 17 to get away from racial tension. He was tired of being witness to the shootings and violence commonplace in his rural hometown.
In the Army, it was different, he said.
“We had to work together, become one,” he said. “You see people for who they are … it grew on me.”
Tasks like cleaning barracks brought everyone together, race aside, he added.
Natasha and Natisha had different reasons for signing up. Their dad played a role in the decision. Natasha said the lifestyle the Army provided their Family influenced her to give the military a shot.
She also joined to travel and experience new things — that was nearly eight years ago.
Natisha enlisted roughly one year after, inspired by her sister. “She was doing great things,” Natisha said. Natisha left college and made the leap into the Army.
Soon they will be stationed together for the first time ever here at Fort Jackson. Some identical twin pranks may be soon to come.
At Fort Jackson, the red-cockaded woodpecker is not so endangered
The red-cockaded woodpecker is an endangered species, but its population growth on Fort Jackson set records in 2018.