Lance Corporal Dustin Borlaug has served his country as a United States Marine, stationed in Okinawa and on standby for Iraq, for most of the past two years, and has recently experienced a devastating typhoon on Okinawa. Since graduating from BHS, Corporal Borlaug has served in Korea, the Philippines and at bases in California and North Carolina.
It will come as no surprise to many that Corporal Borlaug is a landing support specialist: Dustin Borlaug gets people, supplies and equipment where they need to be, doing whatever it takes, wherever Marines are called upon to be, to complete the mission. Unless another mission is assigned, Corporal Borlaug will soon be aboard ship for 3 months, then be stationed at Camp Pendleton, California in April 2015 (an auspicious number, as his Brainerd Warrior jersey was 15).
Corporal Borlaug has been given peer recognition, having been chosen to serve as an usher at the annual Iwo Jima memorial service in Arlington, Virginia, and there met survivors of the epic battle for Iwo Jima and the iconic raising of the American flag on top of Mount Surabachi. While on duty at the memorial service, Corporal Borlaug was photographed with the Commandant of the Marine Corps, the Corps’ highest ranking Marine. As it should be. Coach Stolski said that Corporal Borlaug was a Warrior in every sense of the word. Beginning in BYAA as a QB, he moved to the defensive backfield and wide receiver early in high school, then flourished on defense, including as one of Brainerd’s vaunted linebackers. As Coach Stolski said: “Dustin was the ultimate team player, ever willing to do whatever was asked of him to help make the team better. It is no surprise that Dustin is now serving his country as a United States Marine, as service was always FIRST to him. “Dustin exemplifies the many Warriors across this state, country and world who, on game day, look North to the Warriors and to the Warrior Way. He lives it – and the Warrior family is so very proud of him: His service, his Warrior heart.” The Warrior Way teaches all that tradition never dies and that the Long Blue Line runs through each and every Warrior, reaches to their football brothers from earlier times, and extends into the Warriors of today and those of tomorrow. When it is “Friday Night,” now thousands of Brainerd Warriors are “there,” on the green of Don Adamson Field, under the rich autumnal moon rising over “The Hill,” and in the mist of fireworks haze drifting across the field toward the Mississippi River. When the whistle blows to signal kickoff at 7 p.m., Corporal Borlaug is there, too, every game, from the sweltering heat of September through the chilling cold and snow that can arrive days later, play by play, listening, remembering and renewing through the power of the Warrior WAy - in Okinawa, Korea, the Philippines, wherever the Marines, and Warrior Dustin Borlaug, are called to serve. Semper Fidelis.