FORT SILL, Okla. -- Pvt. Jacup Miers, from Yuma, Ariz., was resilient before he ever put on the Army uniform. He wears the look of determination in his eyes. He tells of his life before the military as if he is listing the facts, nothing more:
"My mom did heroin and she was kind of a prostitute. She had to make money and she did crack and all that stuff," said Miers.
He quickly adds that his father was an alcoholic who kicked him out of the house because he didn't want to continue caring for him.
Miers was 12 years old.
The details rattle out in short choppy sentences from Miers' mouth.
"I had to take care of my brother and sister at a really young age.
"I had a pretty rough life.
"I grew up in a really rough neighborhood.
"I had to hustle to make money for my brother and sister."
It's as if he shares the uncomfortable details hurriedly because he is ready to move on to bigger and better things.
He graduated Basic Combat Training from B Battery, 1st Battalion, 79th Field Artillery Jan. 30. At the ceremony at McMahon Memorial Auditorium, he was presented the 1st Lt. Fox Leadership Award for his resiliency.
"My grandparents were my motivation. I would go to them after we would get into a fight and they would say 'Look it sucks, but as long as you can make it through this stuff just never quit. Just keep going,'" he said.
A social worker was able to get him into a foster home and back into school when he was 15 years old.
He was adopted by Heidi and Kurt Miers, whom he calls his mother and father. As for his biological parents, he said he doesn't harbor any hatred toward them.
"I have a lack of respect for what they've done, but they're still my parents. The parents I have now I just love them. They've done everything they can to prepare me and treat me like their own, and I wouldn't trade them for anything."
Miers finished high school with a 3.4 grade-point average. He decided to join the Army to continue with his goals of achieving something greater. He asked his adoptive father, a former first sergeant and drill sergeant for advice. Miers is now on contract to go to Ranger School and Airborne School.
"I was able to tell with the way he took care of his battle buddies, both his male and female battle buddies that he was going to definitely be that brother figure for them," said Miers's drill sergeant, Drill Sergeant (Staff Sgt.) Catherine Green, B-1/79th FA.
"He turned out to be an amazing Soldier and am very proud of him," she said.
During the graduation ceremony 1st Sgt. Leslie Bailey, A Battery, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Battalion Air Defense Artillery, was the guest speaker. She asked each Soldier if they were ready.
"Are you ready to be part of a team? Are you ready to integrate your family into this world? The strength of a Soldier is in their family and the support system that they have.
Miers said he is more than ready. He lives by something his adoptive father always tells him: "If you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, you can accomplish anything."
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