The Army Public Affairs Association is proud to announce Army Staff Sgt. Micah V. Merrill as the 2024 recipient of the Master Sgt. Marcia J. Triggs Award of Excellence. Merrill is the media/multimedia noncommissioned officer in charge for the 24th Theater Public Affairs Support Element, Fort Bliss, TX.
The Triggs Award is an annual recognition for an Army NCO in grades E-6 through E-8 who has demonstrated outstanding and sustained excellence in leadership. The ideal candidate is one who has made significant contributions to improving the professionalism of the public affairs career field, has made contributions to the Public Affairs mission and practice that will endure for future generations, and is considered so outstanding as to have the potential to become a Public Affairs Sergeant Major.
“We are very honored to recognize Staff Sgt. Merrill this year," Army Public Affairs Association President Rebecca Wriggle said. “Staff Sgt. Merrill's selfless and dedicated service, his excellence as a leader, and his many exceptional accomplishments already in his career are truly in keeping with the excellence of MSG Marcia Triggs, for whom the award is named.”
The Army Public Affairs Association would again like to take this opportunity to thank Bell for their enduring sponsorship of the Master Sgt. Marcia J. Triggs Award for Excellence. Their support makes possible this program to recognize superior Army Public Affairs noncommissioned officers.
Staff Sgt. Merrill served as a multimedia squad leader, and now serves as the Media/Multimedia noncommissioned officer in charge for the 24th Theater Public Affairs Support Element, or TPASE, since his arrival in August 2021.
As outlined in his award nomination, Merrill's excellent performance has been vital to the command’s success during several missions with strategic impacts. More importantly, his dedication to his Soldiers as people and professional communicators have allowed them to excel.
Merrill displayed his skill sets during Operation Allies Welcome at Doña Ana, New Mexico, in September 2021 following the withdraw of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan. His imagery, content curation and leadership showed the world U.S. efforts to help at-risk Afghan refugees resettling in the U.S. in the midst of a global pandemic.
Merrill also played a major role during the 24th TPASE support of Project Convergence – Capstone 4, or PC-C4, for the U.S. Army Futures Command in February and March 2024. PC-C4 is an Army-hosted, joint and multinational experiment that will inform the integration of modernization capabilities to increase the effectiveness of weapon systems and force protection. Merrill was instrumental supporting one of our Army’s key communication efforts. His innovative content management generated more than 650 published images generating $1 million in earned media making it the most successful Project Convergence iteration ever.
Along the way, Staff Sgt. Merrill's leadership earned TPASE Soldiers four top awards during the 2024 U.S. Army Forces Command Public Affairs 4th-Estate awards.
Merrill also deployed to the Middle East on an Individual Augmentation mission supporting Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) from July 2022 through March 2023. During his deployment, Merrill worked with the Directorate of Strategic Communication supporting communication objectives nested with national security interests. Merrill leveraged his technical expertise as a graduate from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University to create various forms of communication tactics for strategic communication efforts tied with the National Defense Strategy. This led to more than 1,100 products being publicly released from the U.S. Central Command area of operation. He managed eight external platforms increasing positive audience engagement by 250% in six months. Merrill also served as a trusted senior enlisted advisor for the command due to his understanding of the information environment and work ethic. Lastly, his strength and resiliency to continue supporting the mission following the tragic death of one of his colleagues showed the true essence of Staff Sgt. Merrill as a person and NCO.
Merrill is a dedicated servant-leader helping Soldiers achieve their professional and personal goals. He encourages Soldiers to embrace education and promotes the importance of the Army’s Holistic Health and Fitness program. He encourages Soldiers to not only focus on the physical domain but also the non-physical domains such as mental, sleep and spiritual. He is a strong supporter of behavioral health services and encourages Soldiers to seek help with no judgement.
Merrill's career accomplishments demonstrate he also understands the power of storytelling. He trained more than 20 civilian interns during Cadet Summer Training at Fort Knox, KY in 2021. His efforts created Army ambassadors aiding the service’s robust communication efforts to increase Army recruiting. When he served at Fort Carson from 2016 through 2020 with the 14th Public Affairs Detachment and 4th Infantry Division, he told powerful stories of wounded warriors showing the spirit of the American Soldier.
In 2018, he also deployed to Africa supporting various humanitarian efforts showing the world the goodwill of our Army. These achievements represent the spirit of this leadership award.
Merrill's award citation reads in part: "Staff Sgt. Merrill's service and accomplishments in the U.S. Army and across the Public Affairs community display his character. Since 2016, he has been committed to helping young public affairs Soldiers, NCOs and officers across Fort Carson and Fort Bliss to excel and achieve their personal and professional goals. He represents the lasting legacy of MSG Triggs!"
"Staff Sgt. Merrill is our 13th recipient of the prestigious MSG Marcia J. Triggs Award of Excellence, Wriggle said. "We could not be more thrilled and honored to recognize him this year. The members of the Board of Directors and I look forward to honoring Staff Sgt. Merrill at our annual awards reception next month in Crystal City, Va. Until then, we invite our career field and community to reach out and join us in congratulating this most extraordinary of PA NCOs, Staff Sgt. Micah Merrill."
The Triggs Award is named after Master Sgt. Marcia J. Triggs, an Army print journalist and public affairs noncommissioned officer, who remained on active duty until her death. She deployed to Iraq twice with the 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Georgia, and was working at the Office of the Chief of Public Affairs at the Pentagon during the terrorist attacks on 9/11. The Army Public Affairs Association would again like to take this opportunity to thank Bell for their sponsorship of the Master Sgt. Marcia Triggs Award of Excellence.
Staff Sgt. Merrill will receive his award at the association's annual awards reception Oct. 15 in Crystal City, Arlington, Va.