Serving Far From Home: 2025 USO Overseas Volunteer of the Year Honored at Yokota Air Base, Japan

At Yokota Air Base, Japan, where service members stand ready to defend our freedoms, a moment of gratitude recently brought the community together.

Service members stationed or deployed to this location are thousands of miles from home, some without their families, in a foreign country – and many are searching for a sense of familiarity and community. The USO Center at Yokota has become a place where service members can feel grounded and connected again after long training days. It’s a space to be around people who understand their experience and to feel less alone while so far from home. And for U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Austin Wylie, the USO Center has provided a supportive community, as well as an avenue to give back to his fellow service members as a volunteer.

U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Austin Wylie, the 2025 USO Volunteer of the Year. | Photo credit USO Photo

“The USO had a profound impact on my transition into military life, and I have longed for a means to give back in the same way they’ve always supported me,” said Wylie. “The opportunity to offer my volunteer service to those stationed in Japan allows me to give a sense of comfort, solace and support to those thousands of miles from home — by giving them a place to call home wherever they are.”

USO Board of Governors member and Senior Managing Director at Ankura Mike P. Emmert traveled from the United States to Japan to personally present the 2025 USO Overseas Volunteer of the Year Award to U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Austin Wylie, recognizing his extraordinary service to our country, to the Yokota community and to the USO.

During the ceremony, Emmert formally recognized Wylie as the recipient of the 2025 Overseas Volunteer of the Year Award, formally named the Janice K. Emmert Volunteer of the Year Award – and the organization’s highest volunteer honor.

Mike P. Emmert, USO Board of Governors member and Senior Managing Director at Ankura, traveled to Japan to present U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Austin Wylie with the 2025 Overseas Volunteer of the Year Award. | Photo credit USO Photo

Named in memory of Emmert’s late wife, Janice, a devoted advocate and longtime supporter of the USO’s mission, the award honors individuals whose service has been instrumental in strengthening the well-being of America’s service members and their families, stateside and around the globe. By personally presenting the award in Japan, Emmert represented the global reach of the USO mission and the importance of the extraordinary impact volunteers like Wylie make every day.

“Our global volunteer force is a key component of our congressionally chartered nonprofit organization that supports service members and their families no matter where they are serving our nation,” Emmert said. “The work our USO Indo-Pacific Region team is doing in this part of the world is vitally important, and our volunteers are always a critical part of our USO mission delivery success.”

The USO Indo-Pacific Region supports one of the most geographically expansive theaters in the USO’s global network, with 25 Centers and an extensive expeditionary program. Across time zones, installations and island nations, volunteers are the steady heartbeat of mission delivery and are crucial to the region’s reach.

“With over 2,700 volunteers in the Indo-Pacific region, and all the outreach we do across the communities we are part of, our volunteers help execute our USO mission delivery at both a very high standard of customer service and, just as importantly, a genuine and authentic level of personalization and gratitude for our patrons,” said USO Indo-Pacific Regional Vice President Scott Maskery.

In 2025 alone, the USO Indo-Pacific region supported 1.3 million service members and military family members, a scale of impact made possible by volunteers serving alongside a dedicated but small staff team.

Scott Maskery, USO Indo-Pacific Regional Vice President, shakes hands with Wylie as part of the recognition of his volunteer service, which helped the region support 1.3 million service members and military families in 2025. | Photo credit USO Photo

“The creativity, innovation and dedication of our volunteers provide a level of energy and enthusiasm that is part of the USO’s ‘secret to success,’” said Maskery.

Each year, the USO Board of Governors reviews nominations of USO volunteers from all around the globe and then selects one domestic volunteer and one overseas volunteer for the prestigious award. In reviewing Wylie’s nomination and meeting him in person, Emmert said his impact was immediately clear.

“What stands out about Austin is his enthusiasm and passion to serve our nation through the United States Air Force and continuing to serve others on his off-duty time,” Emmert said. “We are so proud of him and thankful that he volunteers with the USO Yokota team, supporting the Yokota Air Base and 374th Airlift Wing communities.”

Volunteers like Wylie represent the connective thread between the American people and our men and women in uniform who serve far from home.

“The work, time, and ‘can do’ spirit of our volunteers helps the USO strengthen the well-being of service members and their families throughout their time in uniform,” Emmert said. “Our volunteers help make that connection a reality to those in uniform, a connection made even more powerful when it is a fellow service member giving back to their own, and their time spent volunteering with the USO is an expression of gratitude from the American people.”

For the USO Indo-Pacific team, hosting a Board of Governors member in Japan to recognize one of their own was deeply meaningful.

“Our team is very honored to have Mr. Mike Emmert take the time to fly out from his home in the United States to recognize the 2025 USO Overseas Volunteer of the Year,” Maskery said. “Mike’s presence is a reflection of the significance of this award, as well as how much our Board of Governors recognizes the importance and impact our volunteers have on our organization.”

For Wylie, volunteering with the USO at Yokota Air Base is an extension of his commitment to serve, and he credits the people and moments at the USO for leaving the greatest impact.

“This award reflects USO Yokota’s dedication to their mission more than it reflects me — a testament to their motivation of serving my fellow service members and their families around the world. I’m simply honored by the opportunity to contribute a fraction of the effort given by the USO, which continues to actively support me as well as my comrades,” said Wylie. “From assisting flights of security personnel by fostering a suitable headquarters for late-night operations during a base-wide exercise, to assisting grieving families with their affairs during times of tragedy — every interaction has the opportunity to make a meaningful impression.”

Volunteering overseas carries a unique significance, particularly in a forward-deployed region like the Indo-Pacific, where service members are away from their families, and separated from a familiar culture. For Wylie, the experience is about connection, ensuring that service members and their families know they are supported, no matter how far they are from home.

“Serving overseas, the necessity for connectivity is undeniable,” said Wylie. “Whether you’re looking to give back to your community, satisfy a service requirement, or fill a void in your own life, the USO offers you the chance to contribute towards a cause much larger than yourself. Service members and their families, just as anyone else, are in need of support no matter where they are, and offering your hand through volunteer service creates lasting impacts through deep connections that reach all corners of the globe.”

As applause filled the USO Center at Yokota Air Base, the ceremony stood as more than a recognition of one volunteer. It was a reflection of the thousands of individuals across the Indo-Pacific – and the world – who give their time, energy and heart to strengthen the well-being of those who serve by volunteering with the USO.

In a region defined by distance, the message was unmistakable: no matter how far from home, the USO, and the volunteers who power its mission, stand beside America’s service members and their families every step of the way.