Airman 1st Class Austin Wylie, a broadcast producer for American Forces Network at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo, is the USO's overseas volunteer of the year for 2025. (Marc Castaneda/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Airman 1st Class Austin Wylie has a reputation at this airlift hub in western Tokyo for being the person who shows up, not for recognition, but for the chance to give someone else a better day.
“I want to see what it does for them,” Wylie said Tuesday during his volunteer shift at Yokota’s USO. “Because then they walk away with a memory or a smile. Either way, it’s a win for me.”
That attitude earned Wylie, a broadcast producer for American Forces Network, the title of overseas USO volunteer of the year for 2025, the nonprofit announced Friday in a news release.
Wylie shares the honor with the stateside USO volunteer of the year, Army Sgt. 1st Class Loretta Streichert of Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. She is an operations sergeant and instructor at the Army Military Police School.
The USO has more than 21,000 volunteers who support service members and their families by staffing centers and assisting with programs and activities across the globe.
“Austin reshaped the center’s training and volunteer development process and personally recruited and trained 37 new volunteers,” the USO said. “His operational support has improved center readiness and efficiency, decreasing event setup and teardown times through better coordination and pre-event planning.”
Streichert earned accolades for recruiting 22 new volunteers and engaging in USO programs promoting emotional resiliency and others, including Families of the Fallen and Backyard Break for the Brave.
U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Loretta Streichert of Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., is the USO's stateside volunteer of the year for 2025. (USO)
She “actively engages in community outreach with her USO Canine partner, Zara,” the USO said.
Wylie told Stars and Stripes he grew up hearing about the USO from his grandparents but had no personal experience with it until he enlisted.
At the San Antonio airport before basic training, volunteers welcomed him “with open arms,” a support system Wylie said stayed with him through the early stages of his career.
“It gave me a chance to hang out with people that had like-minded personalities and interests,” he said. “A chance to feel comfortable and to feel good about what they’re about to do.”
By the time he reached his first duty station, Wylie said he already knew he wanted to be part of that environment for others.
“I knew right away that I needed to become a part of this,” he said.
USO Yokota staff described Wylie as a steady presence in the center, especially during busy stretches.
“It feels like we have a fourth staff member,” Josie Grenier, the local USO center’s operations manager, told Stars and Stripes at the center on Tuesday. “We know that things aren’t going to slip under the rug or fall through the cracks when Austin is around.”
That sense of connection is something Wylie said he hopes other service members, especially those feeling isolated overseas, can experience, too.
“If I’m given time on this planet to do something, and I don’t get to take back any of that time, what right do I have to not share that time with other people?” he said.
