Childhood astronaut dreams first attracted Staff Sgt. Yuji Moore to the mission of the Space Force. But while his career didn\u2019t lead where he initially expected, he\u2019s discovered an ability to reach new heights in every role he fills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moore, 25, began his military career in 2018 in the Air Force as an all-source intelligence analyst supporting remotely piloted aircraft operations. He calls the job his first small introduction to space, as satellite communications supported the work of his team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But when the Space Force was born as the sixth military branch at the end of 2019, Moore knew he wanted to be in the first tranche of airmen to transfer over and build the new service. <\/p>\n\n\n \u201cI knew I joined the military to get a different experience, so I wanted to jump into something new,\u201d he recalled. And the new role delivered: \u201cStanding up, we were working out of trailers, doing all these crazy operations on a dirt lot. So it was like being deployed every day. And that\u2019s what the Space Force provided me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Moore was assigned to an electromagnetic warfare unit and completed a six-month deployment to Europe in his new role. When he returned, he had an opportunity to fulfill another dream: to be a military training instructor \u2013 a role he\u2019d been inspired by as a high schooler in a summer Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He put in an application, and in 2024 he learned he\u2019d be headed to the Army Drill Sergeant Academy in Columbia, South Carolina. He\u2019d be the first Space Force Guardian \u2013 and the first member of any joint service \u2013 to graduate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Moore didn\u2019t just graduate, though; he dominated the course, finishing at the top of his class with a 99% average grade across all training objectives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Designated the class platoon first sergeant, he supervised 75 other troops from various services. He even got pulled into an equipment inventory project while in training with the Army, helping the service verify 137,000 items worth a total of $5 million and earning praise from leadership of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Moore said he put a lot of pressure on himself to show up ready, as he knew he\u2019d need to learn another service\u2019s structure and culture as well as the training material. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHaving zero personal Army experience was definitely daunting, so I made my best effort to absolutely prepare beforehand,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Back at the Space Force Moore is putting the knowledge he gained at the drill school to work, as one of the leads of a project to rewrite the entire curriculum for Space Force basic military training. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While the Space Force has up to this point closely followed Air Force training, Moore is now working to infuse more of the new service\u2019s unique culture, principles and operational needs into the program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He\u2019s also seeking to be open about his personal struggles along the way. In early 2025, he said, he experienced a mental health crisis that forced him to seek help and reevaluate the pressure he placed on himself to achieve and excel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhile I did see results from working so hard and doing all these different things, I now realize that you know you can do those things and also have boundaries and take care of yourself,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think it was an extremely important and valuable lesson for me to learn \u2026 and it allows me to be a more effective leader.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Staff Sgt. Yuji Moore is the Military Times Guardian of the Year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":109552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-post-featured-layout","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":65,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,12,26,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2566],"class_list":["post-78797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"PBYD637TOFE4FOMLMBA4ZWIBBA","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2025\/09\/04\/the-1st-guardian-to-graduate-and-dominate-drill-sergeant-academy\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"featured-layout","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n