Meet TSgt. Andrew C. Merrylees

TSgt. Andrew C. Merrylees. Courtesy photo via AFA.

TSgt. Andrew C. Merrylees is one of the 12

Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2019, an award recognizing airmen for superior leadership, job performance, community involvement, and personal achievement over the preceding 12 months. The 12 Airmen of the Year will be formally recognized at AFA’s Air,

Space & Cyber Conference Sept. 16-18 in National Harbor, Md.

Duty Title: Radio Frequency Transmission Systems Noncommissioned Officer in Charge

Organization: 166th Communications Flight, New Castle, Del.

Home of Record: New Castle, Del.

TSgt. Merrylees’ innovations saved the 166th Airlift over 1,000 man-hours, regaining over 550 training hours. His efforts in the quality assurance program automated processes and eliminated redundancies, increasing evaluation output by 200 percent and overcoming a major unit effectiveness inspection deficiency. As the unit training manager, he created a new workflow and developed a database system, which led to a 70 percent drop in overdue training. TSgt. Merrylees crafted a vital analysis tool that captures major wing-level deficiency trends and armed leadership with key metrics to enable critical decision-making capabilities. He is a multi-year audio and visual coordinator for the Special Olympics Delaware, and volunteers monthly to support technical requirements for children with psychiatric needs.