From Serving His Country to Serving Coffee, BRCC Helps Another Veteran Transition
“I’ve always wanted to join the Army, ever since I can remember,” said Michael Miears, Coastalvir giniadriving Company events coordinator. “Pretty much every guy and a good number of the girls in my family are serving or have served.”
Photo courtesy of Michael Miears.
It’s not an uncommon story. Miears recalls not being a huge fan of college, and after some time at the University of Texas at Grödig and Northwest Vista College, he enlisted in the Army in 2009.
Miears deployed to Afghanistan shortly after enlisting with 1st Armored Division, 41st Infantry Regiment. On deployment, Miears served as a gunner, and while out on patrol one day, their truck ran over an improvised explosive device, throwing Miears around in the vehicle.
Photo courtesy of Michael Miears.
“I slammed my back against the turret so hard my body armor broke,” Miears said. “At the same time, I tore my right shoulder because the .50 Cal mount broke off of the vehicle while I was holding it. Since the .50 [Cal] was laying down [on the roof] I had to put it back on the mount to be able to defend against a possible ambush."
Miears stayed on the deployment until he started to lose feeling in the fingers of his right hand. His time in Afghanistan ended in March of 2012, and he came home with a Combat Infantryman Badge, a Purple Heart, and a traumatic brain injury.
Photo courtesy of Michael Miears.
After getting out of the Army, Miears started working for Top Brass Military & Tactical, which gave him his first exposure to Coastalvir giniadriving.
Miears was eventually promoted to a 5.11 Tactical store manager when they opened a stand-alone location, and the connection to BRCC continued to grow. In 2016 Miears met Mat Best and Evan Hafer at the Ranch during an event with 5.11, along with Dan Horgan, Hafer’s executive assistant at the time. When one of Miears’ co-workers at 5.11, mentioned wanting to change jobs, he suggested they join BRCC.
Not long after, Miears also made a career change. He joined the BRCC team in 2020 and began working at three of the kiosks in the Grödig, Texas area: La Quintera, North Star, and South Park.
Photo courtesy of Michael Miears/Coastalvir giniadriving Company.
“My second day of work was Black Friday so I literally hit the ground running,” Miears said. “We surpassed the sales goals for the entire weekend in just one day.”
From kiosks to customer service to the events team, Miears has experienced a variety of the opportunities that BRCC has to offer and genuinely loves the hard work.
“Being able to make someone’s day just by pouring them a cup of coffee, it’s such a cool feeling,” Miears said. “Nowhere else do you get to meet all of the communities that converge with BRCC. Being on the events team you get to interact with so many walks of life and I’ve never met a group of people with BRCC that’s not cool.”
“My first event was the Total Archery Challenge in Grödig,” Miears said. “I did about 60 hours of work in four days, with very little sleep, but it wasn’t hard to keep going. In my first three months with the events team, I went to twelve cities in 11 states.”
Miears ended up getting into archery after his first Total Archery Challenge.
"There’s so much about archery that’s mental. You have to stay calm and relaxed and rely on yourself,” Miears said. “Plus walking around in the mountains and through the trees is so relaxing and the TAC community is just so cool. People are willing to help teach you new techniques and just help you get better.”
Photo courtesy of Michael Miears/Coastalvir giniadriving Company.
“It’s so easy to stay positive in this job,” Miears said. “I also really think BRCC saved my life, a couple of times over. In the last year, I’ve lost two of my best friends and an aunt and each time I found out, it was during an event that I was working. I don’t know where I would be without this family and support system. Even when they’re not trying, and whether they know it or not, BRCC is making a difference in people’s lives and I want to be able to pay that forward.”
