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Ideals Foundation Honors Local Soldier

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By GEORGE H. NEWMAN

gnewman@tampatrib.com

Published: December 31, 2008

PLANT CITY - Join the Army and see the world fittingly plays off a Navy recruiting slogan for many soldiers.

Army Staff Sgt. Tenell Berry, a lifelong Plant City resident, is a case in point.

Berry was born is South Florida Baptist Hospital and graduated from Plant City High School in 1994. She attended the University of North Florida in Jacksonville for three years, then transferred to a dental school in Tampa and trained to be a dental hygienist.

Berry, 32, is in her eighth year of soldering and has definitely seen a large part of the world. She said she is expecting to see even more of it real soon.

Berry was recently introduced to members of the American Business Inter-Network, a networking organization that gathers weekly for a breakfast meeting at BuddyFreddys restaurant. Art Moffa, the president and founder of the organization, invited Berry to speak at the breakfast and receive special recognition from the American Ideals Foundation.

"It is an honor to serve and be recognized for my service in the military," Berry said. "I feel that any opportunity that allows me to share my experience with others is the right thing to do."

Berry's sister, Yvonne Berry, contacted Robert Moffa, the foundation's founder, and asked if he could make the presentation to his sister.

"Yvonne told me that Sgt. Berry would only be on leave from Korea for a few weeks," Robert Moffa said. "So we quickly made arrangements for the presentation."

Robert is Art Moffa's brother. The two have collaborated many times to honor active, retired and deceased military personnel during the past year.

Berry was honored through the foundation's Military Heroes program. Robert Moffa created the program last year to recognize members of the military who have helped preserve freedom through their service.

Berry, who entered the Army in 2000, was a fitting recipient, Robert Moffa said.

"After my initial training as a dental hygienist at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, I was assigned to Fort Stewart, Ga. After two years I went to Fort Hood, Texas, and then back to Fort Leonard Wood," she said.

In 2006, Berry went back to Fort Hood and then to Fort Jackson, S.C., where she was retrained in military intelligence administration.

"I was looking forward to my new responsibilities," Berry said. "I was deployed to Korea in November 2007. I am involved with aviation exploitation, where real-time decision-making in the Pentagon is made from surveillance vehicles in our command. Mostly I am responsible for collecting data and distribution."

Berry believes her next duty station will be at a U.S. Army base in Vilseck, Germany.

"My mission there is undetermined at this time," she said. "But I'm sure it will be interesting and exciting."

Eventually Berry is looking for an opportunity to work as an Army recruiter stateside. That might take a while, she said. Her next promotion to sergeant first class should come sooner.

"I'm very proud of my sister," Yvonne Berry said. "She really has seen the world. But I can't wait to get her home again."

Reporter George H. Newman can be reached at (813) 865-4451.

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