Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Brandon Parker | 221121-N-HG389-0017 (Nov. 21, 2022) From Left: Chief Hospital Corpsman Iandave...... read more read more
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“I would tell other women and minorities that the military needs to see more of us. Junior Sailors need to see people who look like them, and who have similar backgrounds to them in the military, succeeding and doing great things,” said Kery Ferrell, an active-duty Sailor serving in Asia.
Ferrell personified her own words recently after being named the 2022 Junior Sailor of the Year (JSOY) by the U.S. Navy’s Commander Logistics Group, Western Pacific (COMLOG WESTPAC). Located in Singapore, COMLOG WESTPAC unanimously recognized Kerry as the best amongst her peers after the Atlanta native closed out the year with a master’s degree in hospital administration (MHA) from the University of Scranton and Junior Sailor of the Quarter (JSOQ) honors.
“I’m extremely proud of Kery's accomplishments and accolades; I can't ask for anything more. I mean, a graduate degree, JSOQ, and JSOY? I can't wait to visit Singapore to give her a congratulatory hug,” said Ferrell’s father, a retired U.S. Air Force veteran.
His daughter Kery serves as an enlisted hospital corpsman for a military medical facility in Singapore where her duties are comparable to medical administration. She manages the flow of traffic in/out of the medical clinic and ensures all service members are medically fit to perform their daily duties in support of the Indo-Pacific mission.
Arguably one of Ferrell’s breakout moments of 2022 was when she was hand-selected to serve on the staff of the Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) during SECNAV Carlos Del Toro’s visit with service members in Southeast Asia. Despite her many accolades, Ferrell said she was still taken aback by the unforeseen recognition, stating, “I have never won any Sailor of the Quarter or Sailor of the Year boards before, so I am shocked and really appreciative that I was recognized. I’m just happy because I know I’ve made my parents proud; they have my diploma and put it in a nice frame back at our home in Georgia.”
During a 2022 Black History Month roundtable, Secretary of Defense (SECDEF), Lloyd Austin
said "I want to make sure I create the conditions that young people out there… can really relate
to and say, 'I can be him, or I can be very successful in the Department of Defense.'" In addition, around the same timeframe on February 9, 2022, Bishop Garrison, the SECDEF’s advisor for diversity equity and inclusion (DEI), said “The military must be able to attract, train and retain them [minorities] for the services to retain competitive edges.”
With such human capital strategies in place, Ferrell plans to help the Navy maintain its competitive edge by becoming a commissioned officer through the Navy’s “Medical Service Corps in Service Procurement Program (MSC-IPP) to become a Healthcare Administrator. “I love advocating for my patients' medical decisions, and I would love to continue that as an officer in the Navy,” she said. “I also plan to obtain my doctorate degree in health care administration or a field related field.”
In the interim Ferrell aims to focus on preparing for her next enlisted promotion for E-6 or Petty
Officer First Class while “volunteering in the Singapore community more and utilizing my MHA to make an impact in the Navy medical field,” she said.
While the Georgia Peach has her sights on her next professional endeavor, she says she still enjoys the present with a work-life balance in sunny Singapore.
“I love meeting new people and experiencing new cultures in Singapore,” she said “I love the ease of public transportation, or that I can walk around [outdoors] at 10 p.m. and feel completely safe,” she said. "I also love how close SG [Singapore] is to other Asian vacation destinations such as Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.”
With Singapore being more than 10,000 miles and a 22-plus hour flight from Atlanta, Ferrell encourages those back in her hometown to consider the Navy as a sustainable career path, yet “be prepared to be away from the familiarity of your hometown, family, and friends. You will create a new family of friends. Embrace change and diversity because you will meet people from all walks of life, good and bad. Take advantage of all the benefits the Navy has to offer [e.g., education, healthcare, travel, etc]. And be prepared to enter as one person and emerge as a completely new person in a few years. The Navy is kind of like a rebirth.”
Located in the Northern region of Singapore, COMLOG WESTPAC/Task Force 73 is the U.S. Navy's trusted maritime mobile logistics organization – charged with keeping deployed units fueled, armed, and fed throughout the Indo-Pacific Area of Operations. The tactical effort supports a larger U.S. strategy to help maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific to protect U.S. assets, regional partners, and allies. For more information on Sailors and Marines like Ferrell, serving at COMLOG WESTPAC, visit: https://twitter.com/comlog_westpac?lang=en
| Date Taken: | 02.28.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 02.27.2023 23:22 |
| Story ID: | 439331 |
| Location: | SG |
| Web Views: | 544 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Georgia Native Named U.S. Navy’s Junior Sailor of the Year in Singapore, by LCDR Derrick Ingle, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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