First Guardian to graduate from Army Drill Sergeant Academy honored

You can't teach resiliency in a book

It's something you have to experience. You have to build that callus over and over again, and callusing that mind

Learning to be comfortable with the uncomfortable, that's the only way to be an effective leader

My career all started back in 2018 in the Air Force until 2020, when I have to win the Space Force

The Space Force offered me a brand-new service, a brand-new culture. All those mission sets were an opportunity for me

to be a part of what I thought to be the next leading edge of military operations

One of my goals from the beginning of my career, ever since basic military training

I saw those military training instructors. I wanted to be a part of that, and I was actually asked

hey, what do you think about going down to the Army Drill Sergeant Academy

to figure out how they do things there and see what you want to bring to the Space Force

What we were looking for was some new ideas on how we want Space Force MTIs to operate

and Sergeant Moore was the best person to send through. Some people just have that inherent desire to just be the best no matter what

At the academy, I was also joined by Technical Sergeant Gudgeon. He ended up becoming my brother throughout that training

Myself and Sergeant Moore being introduced to that environment, we both leaned on each other quite a bit

Their goal was to treat us like the trainees so we could understand what that was like. And they were firm, they were direct, but the phrase of saying

hey, we're tearing someone down and break them down to build them back up again isn't necessarily true

It's not like the Vietnam Air Draft, you know. Everyone that wants to be in the military, they raised their right hand and they joined

So it's a completely different course and their training reflects that. Sergeant Gudgeon and I were not only the first guardians to graduate from the drill sergeant academy

but the first joint service members outside of the Army to graduate that academy

Not only did he excel which we knew that he would it was a better outcome than we could have possibly hoped for But what I also noticed is that sometimes Sergeant Moore will give too much of himself in the pursuit of taking care of other people or taking care of the mission

And finally, he made the courageous decision to step up and ask for help

I did struggle with a mental health crisis. I was practicing perfectionism in a bad way

the pressure of excellence kind of got worse and worse. And Major Matthews ensured that I knew that my mission was to take care of myself

So he took that knee and he went through all the treatment that he needed. And since Sergeant Moore has been through the struggle and he's come out the other side whole

I've seen him be a much more effective leader in NCO. Let it suck now. Let there be pain now

And when we had a need for a T-Billet instructor to lead our curriculum and development

we saw Sergeant Moore and we said, that's the guy. His knowledge and his understanding of the way the Army does things at Territory World Sergeant Academy

is one of the pillars that we're leaning on. The way we're moving forward with the Space Force is a holistic health approach

We don't want robots that are following a script. We want critical thinkers that are able to do what they do best with their skill sets

With everything being so new and unprecedented, and every Guardian has a chance to leave kind of their fingerprint on the Space Force

Sardin Moore's drive for excellence is still a mystery to me. I was looking to bottle it up and sell it to an extent

He's just one of those members who's going to do great things for as long as he chooses to wear the uniform

He's going to be a senior leader one day, and then everybody who crosses his path will be changed positively

by having interacted with him. there are generations of Guardians who will go out and have the imprint that Sergeant Moore left on them