From the moment he first toddled around in G.I. Joe underwear, Jeremie Border’s destiny was clear: He was born to protect.
Hailing from Mesquite, Texas, his family didn’t come from a long line of service members. There was no pressure, no plan really, but it was meant to be. “He was born with a gun in his hand,” his mother Mary Border recalled. “From day one. God put him on Earth to protect and serve.”
But Jeremie’s story isn’t one of glory and medals–it’s about grit, loyalty and an unwavering heart. As a boy, he carried a toy gun tucked into his waistband and once broke his mother’s hand during a diaper-clad escape into traffic. “He stuck that gun down his diaper,” she said, “and when I went to spank him, I hit the plastic instead. My hand swelled up black and blue.”
Her mother handed her a wooden spoon—one that would become infamous in their family. Jeremie even once explained to a stranger, “That’s to whoop my butt when I’m bad.”
His sister DeLaynie Roberts, four years older and his fiercest defender, remembered the day bullies stole Jeremie’s only pair of tennis shoes. “We had no money, and I went after them. Jeremie told me not to but I wasn’t about to let that go,” she explained.”
Their bond only deepened over time. “We were best friends, even though we fought like siblings. People used to ask me all the time if he was my boyfriend,” DeLaynie laughed. “We were just always together.”
Jeremie was a protector long before the military. In junior high, he stepped between a bully and a classmate in a wheelchair. The confrontation ended with Jeremie punching the bully—and getting suspended. “The principal shook my hand,” his mom recalled with a smile. “He said, ‘I am not supposed to say this ma’am, but you raised a hero.’”
Jeremie graduated from Mesquite High School in 2002 after helping the football team win the state championship. He went on to attend McMurry University in Abilene, Texas, as a scholar-athlete, playing as a defensive back on the football team, and was active on campus in the Servant Leadership Program, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and Makona fraternity. In 2006, Jeremie earned his bachelor’s degree with a double major in Sociology and Communications. Though he’d wanted to enlist right out of high school, his mother made him wait until he earned a college degree.
He enlisted in the Army that same year at his graduation, completing basic training, advanced individual training as an Infantryman and airborne school at Fort Benning, Georgia.
In between all of that, he was struck by lightning. Caught in a storm on a boat, he pushed kids to safety before grabbing a metal pole, when the bolt hit. It entered through his hand and exited through his ankle. Though he didn’t tell his family until years later, his heart had stopped, and they had to revive him with CPR.
“He told people that’s how he got his gray hair,” DeLaynie laughed. “It was actually from college finals.”
In 2008, Jeremie was selected during the Special Forces Assessment and Selection Course as a Special Forces Weapons Sergeant.
During training at the qualification course for the Army Special Forces, he broke his hand trying to escort a drunk comrade out of a bar. The next day, he had to throw a live grenade—but the cast held him back. Jeremie cut it off, hit his mark, and got the cast put back on later.
He actually didn’t make it into the Special Forces as a Green Beret the first time. He failed navigation by a single point, came home physically wrecked—down 30 pounds, blistered feet, shaved head. “He looked like he came from a concentration camp,” his mother said.
But he went back, trained harder, and made it in. That was Jeremie.
“He always wanted to be the best of the best,” Mary said through tears.
Jeremie was also never too good to joke with his mother, though. And she gave it right back.
“He came in one day and said, ‘Mama, I ain’t afraid of that wooden spoon anymore.’ I happened to be cooking with a cast-iron skillet. I picked it up and said, ‘You might not be afraid of the spoon, but you’ll be afraid of this!’ He backed down immediately. That skillet still sits on my stove—and it always will,” Mary shared.
After completing his training and earning the coveted Green Beret, Jeremie was assigned to Company Alpha, 1st Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), based in Okinawa, Japan.
On September 1, 2012, Staff Sgt. Jeremie Border was 28 years old when he was killed by small arms fire while conducting combat operations in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Valor, the Purple Heart, the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Afghanistan Campaign Medal.
“Jeremie was a hero, even in his final moments,” Mary shared. “He saved lives that day. He took out three of them [enemy combatants], as I understand it. He saved a lot of lives.”
On Memorial Day, his family honors him by participating in the Carry the Load Walk in Dallas. “We don’t cry as often as we used to,” said Mary, “but we still have our moments.”
Jeremie’s calm strength grounded them and continues to do so today. “He was our rock,” she said. “When I was losing it at work, he’d call me and say, ‘Mama, consider the source. You’ve got us.’”
Before deploying for Afghanistan, he left them with a promise. “If anything ever happens to me, remember: I died doing what I love. Don’t you dare embarrass me. Stand tall.”
And they did. At his service, his mom felt her shoulders slump and pulled herself back upright. A woman in the crowd called her cold-hearted. She wasn’t. Mary was honoring her son. “You raised a Green Beret,” Jeremie once told her, “and you’ll damn well act like it.”
Today, his cast iron skillet still sits on the stove. A reminder. A story. A legacy.
And Jeremie? He’s more than a soldier. He’s a son. A brother. A best friend. A hero. And always, a protector.
Green Beret Staff Sgt. Jeremie Border is being honored by The Unquiet Professional for their 2025 virtual Memorial Mile. You can go here to register to run or walk this Memorial Day and receive Jeremie’s hero card through The Grateful Nation Project. The mission of TUP is to make noise for those who serve and honor the fallen as well as their families.