Meth is the drug that’s brought a spike in criminal cases into local court in the past year. Multiple steps have been taken to help many kick their addiction. And now, a story beyond recovery - the new captains at the Salvation Army Guam Chapter are opening up about their personal battle with drugs. Both shared how the journey brought them to a place where they can now help others going through similar struggles.

Hector Acosta wears his uniform proudly. A once U.S. Army veteran recalling his career before he ever expected to call Guam home. "Then I went to corporate America and I helped build businesses for people," he said.

A career change making him the life of the party. "I was hosting other business owners, captains of industry, people that we were trying to connect with. I would take them out drinking. I would take them out partying and I got caught up in the net of that," he shared.

Caught picking up bad habits. "Cocaine, marijuana, the abuse of alcohol of course. I think that at my most successful period in the industry where I was climbing to ownership, I hit this very severe depression because I hit the top of what I was shooting for and I climbed the wrong mountain," he said.

He was on a high, but his climb quickly came crumbling down. "I was destroying my marriage, I was not available for my kids. So I wasn’t a good husband, I wasn’t a good father, which the point of everything. I said that was my priority but I wasn’t living that out. It crushed me and it took me into depression," he said.

Acosta hit his rock bottom - it triggered him to get help. His wife Yasmin Acosta there to witness it all. "He found help and I found help in the support family services as he started his journey in recovery," he said.

The journey was for them both. The Acostas ultimately found an avenue to restore their family.

She told KUAM News, "It’s been a life journey that’s led us to Salvation Army. We came from recovery and we’ve experienced a lot of loss and trauma, and found a place of healing."

The couple are now captains with the Salvation Army Guam. They arrived to the island over the summer - ready to share their experience and help others. Hector said, "We know how valuable it is to have an opportunity for restoration, to have an opportunity to heal and break free of the bond that is addiction."

"We are personally involved in this. A couple times a week I pick up the guys in the program and we do work therapy together. We go and do labor together. We go and help somebody in the community. We work through heart issues. Because I’m a pastor sometimes that involves the Bible, but really it’s about asking questions that are philosophical in nature that we are all going to face. Working through that is what helped me and that’s what I’m doing in return to help others that are in it. So it’s that relationship and I can guarantee the relationships I am building here are going to be for life," he said.

And a lifetime of helping others to kick their addictions.