Dog Tag Inc., named after military identification “dog tags,” is on a mission to help those who have served their country.
“There’s a joke that when you put on your resume ‘I was a sniper,’ there are not too many companies that are looking to hire that,” said Meghan Ogilvie, chief executive officer of Dog Tag Inc. Her organization helps put veterans with service-related disabilities back into the workforce.
The five-month training program gives veterans, who might otherwise be unemployable, real world experience and the chance to learn a trade at Dog Tag Bakery in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
The veterans and other program participants learn how to run a small business, including managing a staff, marketing the products and producing the baked goods.
One participant, retired Marine Cpl. Eduardo “Lalo” Panyagua, is recovering from brain injuries he sustained while in Afghanistan. Before entering the program, he was having a difficult time coming to terms with his new lot in life.
“My career was the Marine Corps, my family was the Marine Corps. I saw myself as a broken piece of equipment,” he said. “I came in here not knowing what I wanted to do five to 10 years from now. … But now, I have, you can say, an entrepreneur mind.”
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