Childhood astronaut dreams first attracted Staff Sgt. Yuji Moore to the mission of the Space Force. But while his career didn’t lead where he initially expected, he’s discovered an ability to reach new heights in every role he fills.
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.
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.
“I knew I joined the military to get a different experience, so I wanted to jump into something new,” he recalled. And the new role delivered: “Standing 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’s what the Space Force provided me.”
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 – a role he’d been inspired by as a high schooler in a summer Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program.
He put in an application, and in 2024 he learned he’d be headed to the Army Drill Sergeant Academy in Columbia, South Carolina. He’d be the first Space Force Guardian – and the first member of any joint service – to graduate.
Moore didn’t just graduate, though; he dominated the course, finishing at the top of his class with a 99% average grade across all training objectives.
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.
Moore said he put a lot of pressure on himself to show up ready, as he knew he’d need to learn another service’s structure and culture as well as the training material.
“Having zero personal Army experience was definitely daunting, so I made my best effort to absolutely prepare beforehand,” he said.
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.
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’s unique culture, principles and operational needs into the program.
He’s 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.
“While 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,” he said. “And I think it was an extremely important and valuable lesson for me to learn … and it allows me to be a more effective leader.”
