Dog Tag Bakery marks 10 years of veteran entrepreneurship program

Dog Tag Bakery, a Washington D.C.-based non-profit, is more than just a place for coffee. It also serves as an entrepreneurship program for veterans with service-connected disabilities. Describing itself as a "living business school," Dog Tag Bakery is designed to support veterans dealing with both visible and invisible wounds. 

The organization's mission is to help veterans transition back to civilian life after their military service. The five-month fellowship program offers veterans, spouses, and caregivers the chance to take courses in business, storytelling, mindfulness and more. Fellows receive a stipend and are required to attend four days per week.

Healing through farming

Peter Scott, a former Army counterintelligence agent who served in Afghanistan, is one of the many veterans whose life was changed by Dog Tag. 

Scott enlisted in the Army in 1999. He was stationed in Germany and later deployed to Afghanistan, where he served as a counterintelligence agent attached to Special Forces teams. Shortly after he returned, he began to have traumatic flashbacks and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. 

"It caught up with me," he told "CBS Mornings." "It wasn't until after we had our child that I started having some flashbacks."

To help cope with these symptoms and adjust to life outside the military, he went to an inpatient program and began to find solace in farming. 

"I started beekeeping. I started gardening, anything that would just sort of keep me in the present moment," he said. 

In 2016, he founded Fields 4 Valor Farms, a nonprofit that grows produce for low-income veterans. The Brandywine, Maryland, plot of land is an idyllic setting but one that's far from the battlefields for which Scott was trained. Scott said it was Dog Tag's program with helped him turn his passion into a successful non-profit

"Fields 4 Valor Farms was born out of the program," said Scott. 

Business school for veterans

Dog Tag CEO Meghan Ogilvie took on the leadership role in 2015 following the death of the program's cherished co-founder, Father Rick Curry, a Jesuit priest. Curry had spent years developing the concept that would eventually become Dog Tag Inc., with the support of co-founder Constance "Connie" Milstein. CBS News interviewed Father Curry in 2015 not long after Dog Tag had opened its doors.

"The fact that I just get to be part of this is—it's a gift. And, you know, not everyone gets the opportunity to really find their calling. Every day I show up, I get to feel that. And how fortunate am I?," Ogilvie said. 

Currently, Ogilvie oversees the program, which has helped veterans transform their military skills into valuable business and life skills.

"It's black and white in the military," she said. "They tell you where to live. They tell you when to move, they tell you what to wear, how to wear it. And that's why it's so efficient. Right? And then you move out and now you're wearing a blazer and you know, you're at a job fair and that identity is gone."

Finding community and purpose

For veterans like Nnana "Obi" Obioha, who served in Iraq, Dog Tag provided a sense of community and helped him reconnect with others who understood his experiences.  He was one of the hundreds of Dog Tag Fellows who have gone through the program's business and storytelling classes, but he said it was the program's mindfulness trainings and the bonds he formed with other participants that helped him the most.

"Every veteran that I met in my cohort had different stories, different backgrounds, different jobs," he said. "But we were the same through service. Having that shoulder to lean on was super beneficial in picking up my pieces."

Dog Tag's impact extends beyond veterans.  

Ximena Rozo participated in the program as an Army spouse. She credits Dog Tag with helping her launch an award-winning design business. The classes she took at Dog Tag, in partnership with Georgetown University, provided the foundation she needed to turn her ideas into a concrete business plan.

"It is like all the dots connected here," Rozo said.

If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or a suicidal crisis, you can reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. You can also chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline here.

 For more information about mental health care resources and support, The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.–10 p.m. ET, at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or email info@nami.org.