Marine Capt. Antonio Borrego displays the Got to Be NC flag at Camp Mujuk, South Korea.
When NCDA&CS employee Antonio Borrego left on a two-week Marine Corps training deployment to Camp Mujuk, South Korea, in August, he took a little bit of North Carolina with him — specifically, a Got to Be NC Agriculture flag.
In addition to his work as training and development coordinator with the NCDA&CS Human Resources Management Office, Borrego is a captain in the Marine Corps Reserve. He commands the supply company in Raleigh, and his training at Camp Mujuk focused on getting supplies to troops in battle.
Borrego says he took the flag as a way to thank his bosses and co-workers, who have been supportive of his military duties. “I figured part of being a reservist is having that support network at your work,” he says. “My bosses were extremely supportive of me. I figured the least I could do is take a picture thanking them for what they do for me.”
Support is something Borrego understands very well, having served six months in Afghanistan last year working to recruit, train and equip Afghan security forces. He says marines in the field often lack some of the basics, such as shampoo and soap. So this summer, in between deployments to California and South Korea, he organized care packages for the troops, collecting enough items from his fellow employees to fill 20 boxes, plus money to cover the cost of shipping the materials to the Middle East.
“It means a big deal to (the marines) to get a box full of mini-shampoos,” Borrego says. “Those packages are 10 times better than Christmas for those guys.”