Master Sergeant Jayce Saldivar, US Space Force 

Master Sergeant Jayce Saldivar, United States Space Force, is the first senior enlisted leader at the USSF’s officer Joint Professional Military Education program at Johns Hopkins University.

Jayce graduated from Towson University with a BS in Psychology before enlisting in the United States Air Force as an aerospace ground equipment mechanic in 2006. He was Airman of the year at the Wing level and was the U.S. Air Forces in Europe maintenance professional of the year before being promoted to Senior Airman Below the Zone before departing service in 2010 because of Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT).

Jayce said, "The moment I decided to leave the Air Force was the moment in which I overheard a conversation at work. One of my friends told someone it would be ok if DADT was overturned because we could 'always get them with friendly fire.' Of course, ‘them’ in this conversation was gay people. In that moment, I knew that, even if overturned, I would be living in fear, and I didn’t want that. It was time to go."

After a four-year break in service where he saw the repeal of DADT and changing attitudes, Jayce returned to the Air Force and re-trained as a Cyber operator. He led his team to the award of Best Small Comm Squadron in Air Force in 2016 before deploying to Kuwait supporting Operation Inherent Resolve.

In 2021 Jayce was among the first group of cyber operators to be selected to transfer to the newly formed U.S. Space Force where he earned Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year for his Delta, multiple quarterly awards, and a Meritorious Service Medal.

Jayce holds 2 associate degrees, a bachelor’s degree, and is currently working on the capstone for his master’s degree... where he's crushing it with a 4.0 GPA.
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You can read more of Jayce's story in 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘝𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘝𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘔𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦

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