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Darby Yeager
Next Generation National Security Fellow, 2019
Active Duty Naval Aviator and Political Science Instructor, United States Naval Academy
Lieutenant Darby Yeager is an active duty Naval Aviator currently serving as a Political Science Instructor at the United States Naval Academy. She deployed as an MH-60R “Romeo” pilot to the Arabian Gulf in support of Operation INHERENT RESOLVE and to the Western Pacific while attached to Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron SEVEN THREE "The Battlecats". During that time, she qualified as a Mission Commander, Aircraft Commander, and Functional Check Pilot and served as the squadron’s Line Division Officer and Assistant Operations Officer.
Darby is a native of Pennington, NJ. She commissioned from the U.S. Naval Academy and subsequently attended University of Cambridge on the Pownall Scholarship where she completed a Master of Philosophy in Development Studies degree and Master of Philosophy in International Relations degree. Her research focused on post-war democratic security sector reform in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Darby has a young daughter and is married to a former Navy SEAL pursuing a career in medicine.