TSgt. Andrew C. Merrylees. Courtesy photo via AFA.
TSgt. Andrew C. Merrylees is one of the 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2019 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.