Gidget Borst graduated from Becker High School in 1989. After high school graduation, Gidget joined the United States Army and spent three years on active duty. 

As part of of Veteran’s Day tribute section, here is Gidget’s story.

Gidget was stationed at Fort Polk, Louisiana, working in logistics. During her three years there, she was deployed to Saudi Arabia in support of the Persian Gulf War in 1991. In 1992, she left active duty and joined the Minnesota Army National Guard, stationed out of Minneapolis, MN. During that time, Borst spent short deployments to Panama, Italy, and Germany. 

While in the National Guard, she worked as a property manager for Garsten Perennial Management out of St. Paul, MN, specializing in providing housing for low-income families.  In 2003, she left her management job and the MN Guard and signed up for active duty with the U.S. Army.  

Gidget’s first duty station from the Guard was Fort Bragg, NC, which she stayed at for three years. Gidget deployed to Iraq in 2004 for a year in support of the Iraq War. In 2006, she left Fort Bragg and was stationed in Hawaii for three years at the Helemano Military Reservation. In 2007, she deployed back to Iraq for 18 months and returned to Hawaii to finish the rest of that tour.

In 2009, she left Hawaii to be stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey for three years with an Army Reserve unit from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  In 2011, she deployed to Kuwait for six months and returned to Fort Dix, NJ until August 2012. 

The next stop on Gidget’s journey was Fort Bliss, Texas, located within the city of El Paso; where she worked as a training liaison for Army Reserve units preparing to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan and as the unit supply sergeant. 

In the spring of 2013, while on leave visiting her family in Minnesota, she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s B-Cell Lymphoma. Gidget took a medical leave from the Army and remained in Minnesota. She began chemotherapy for four months until, on September 13, 2013, Gidget received life changing news that the cancer was gone and she had been cured! Gidget gives all the glory to God for saving her. 

“I could not have done it and fought so hard without the tremendous love and support from my family and friends,” she said. 

 Later that month, she returned to Fort Bliss, TX until February 2016.

In March 2016, Borst received orders for a permanent change of station (PCS) to Fort Riley, Kansas. She was stationed there for three and a half years until receiving orders for Yongsan, South Korea. She spent seven months working in a medical warehouse and was sent back to Fort Bliss, Texas once her  assignment was over in Korea. 

In October 2020, Gidget  received her Commercial Driver License (CDL) and officially retired from the U.S. Army on November 1, 2020 as Master Sergeant with a combined military service of 31 years.  

Gidget decided to remain living in El Paso, Texas, where she made many friends and has a wonderful church family. Since retiring from the military, she spends her days reading, crafting, traveling, enjoying time with friends, and traveling back to Becker, as often as she can to visit her mom, family, and friends she grew up with. 

She also volunteers with several organizations including the American Legion, El Paso Food Bank, Westside Church of Christ, Faith Lutheran Church of Becker, the Boys and Girls Club of El Paso, as well as the national veterans organization ‘The Mission Continues’.