After high school, Moody enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1972. He served four years (until 1976), rising to the rank of Sergeant while stationed at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi. He earned the Air Force Good Conduct Medal and occasionally wrestled on independent cards during off-duty hours. Upon discharge he began working part-time as an emergency medical technician, often transporting bodies, and apprenticed as a shomer (a Jewish ritual watcher of the dead) before pursuing formal education in mortuary science.