Hometown: Mesquite, TX
Branch: U.S. Army
Unit: Company A, 1st Battalion, Special Forces Group (Airborne) “Green Beret”
Military Honors: Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart,  Meritorious Service Medal
Date of Sacrifice: September 1, 2012 - KIA in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan
Age: 28 
Conflict: War in Afghanistan, 2001-2021

Growing up in Mesquite, Texas, Jeremie Border made clear to his family and to his community that he was a dedicated, ambitious young man. He put in the work to achieve the Boy Scouts’ Eagle Scout award. At Mesquite High School, he was part of the “Skeeters’” perfect 15-0 season that brought his community its first state football title—a very big deal in the football-obsessed state of Texas.

“He was born a protector, for sure,” his older sister, DeLaynie, remembers. She recalls that in middle school, Jeremie got into a fight defending a wheelchair-bound student from a bully. In high school, he was ejected from a soccer game when he intervened to stop an opposing player who came at his coach.

After graduating from high school in 2002, Border became a standout scholar-athlete at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas. Besides being a four-year defensive back for the War Hawks, he double-majored in sociology and communications. He was active in the Servant Leadership Program, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and served as a Resident Assistant. He graduated with MU’s class of 2006.

According to his mother, Mary Border, “From the time Jeremie was born all he ever wanted was to wear camouflage and play soldier. He wanted to join the military right after high school, but I made him wait until after he graduated college. He loved the brotherhood that the military offered almost as much as he loved me and his sister.”

Right out of college, Border enlisted in the U.S. Army as an infantryman and headed to Fort Benning, Georgia, for basic training and advanced individual training. He’d complete the basic airborne course at Benning before being assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Washington.

By 2008, Border was selected for the Special Forces Qualification Course, and graduated in 2009 as a Special Forces Weapons Sergeant—a member of the Army’s elite “Green Berets,” the most highly-skilled soldiers in the world.

He was sent to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he learned Indonesian at the Special Operations Forces Language Course at the Army’s John F. Kennedy Warfare Center and School.

Border was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), base in Okinawa, Japan. He requested a transfer to Company A so he could deploy to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

On September 1, 2012, Staff Sergeant Jeremie Border’s unit was conducting combat operations in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan, when he was struck by enemy small arms fire. He succumbed to his wounds and was lost at age 28.

After giving “the last full measure of devotion” for his country, SSG Border was laid to rest near his hometown and was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, and the Meritorious Service Medal.

Sources
Details provided by Ms. Mary Border, SSG Border’s Gold Star Mother, and Ms. DeLaynie Roberts, Gold Star Sister
U.S. Army Special Operations Command, History Office: SSG Jeremie S. Border
Green Beret Foundation: Jeremie S. Border SSG
U.S. Army Special Forces Command (Airborne) Biographical Sketch: Staff Sgt. Jeremie S. Border
Carry the Load: Jeremie “JBO” Border
The Mesquite News, Sep. 13, 2012: Heroes final trip home
McMurry University: McM Athletics Announces Inaugural “Grant Teaff Beyond the Game Award” Winner: Jeremie Border
Restland Funeral Home: Staff Sergeant Jeremie Shane Border
Burial Site: Find a Grave