Lessons learned in Vietnam’s Cam Ranh Bay shape coffee shop owner Dale Berg

To many in the Holyoke area, Dale Berg is known as the friendly owner of Brewed Awakening Coffee and Bake Shop on North Interocean Avenue. And though he seems right at home running his business in Olde Holyoke Square, Berg has only been doing so since April 2018.

A similarly brief experience 50 years ago formed another even more important aspect of Berg’s identity that he’s carried with him ever since. In 1968 at 21 years old, he was drafted in the U.S. Army. Less than a year later, he was sent to Vietnam, where he served until April 1970.

All told, Berg’s time in the military lasted just 19 months, but it changed his life forever. From basic training to being in the war to living as a veteran, being involved in the military has shaped Berg into who he his today.

As a young man who just recently graduated with a psychology degree from Northeastern Junior College, Berg hadn’t experienced much outside the life of rural Colorado when he started basic training at Fort Lewis in Washington.

There he met people from all across the country with every different kind of background you could imagine. He was exposed to diversity and cultures that just didn’t exist in Sterling when he was growing up. He described it as both a “culture shock” and a “tremendous education.”

Having grown up as a farm kid, Berg was no stranger to hard work. The military took it a step further, though. There were strict rules, daily routines and lots of physical and mental training.

After that, Berg was put into clerical school at Fort Ord in California and attended finance school at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indiana. He spent about five months working in the finance office at Fort Knox in Kentucky.

Then, of course, there was wartime itself.

“Anybody that goes in the war — anytime, whether it’s then or now — you’re going to grow up real fast,” he said.

Many of the men he served alongside were 18, 19, 20 years old. Though they’d done plenty of maturing already in basic training, more growth was inevitable as they went overseas.

“All of the sudden you’re not at home. You’re in a foreign country, and people are shooting at you,” Berg said. “You’re going to learn survival; it’s a matter of life and death.”

Berg was based in Cam Ranh Bay, which he said was probably one of the safer places to be. He served as the payroll liaison for the 1st Air Cavalry, an elite helicopter unit that gave support, evacuation and cover to ground troops. From Cam Ranh Bay, Berg flew to different base camps all over the region.

Luckily he wasn’t on the ground like many were, but it was still war.

“You’re going to see things you’ve never seen or would never hope to see,” Berg said. “You’re going to see death. You’re going to see people around you — people you’ve met as friends — die.”

Before Berg’s 12-month tour was over, things started winding down in Vietnam and he was given an “early out” to go home and help on the farm.

When he was drafted, there was a two-year commitment. Since Berg had less than five months remaining, he wasn’t assigned to another post after being in Vietnam. When he went back to the family farm, he was still in the reserve for five months but didn’t end up being called back.

He was no longer in the Army, but he was a veteran, and that’s something he embraced.

In the nearly 50 years that have passed since he served in Vietnam, Berg has worked in many different capacities. He spent a few more years on the farm before his father retired. He moved to Denver where he worked in medical bookkeeping for over 20 years.

From there, he moved to Estes Park for about 25 years. There he worked for the recreation district, running two golf courses.

In January 2017, Berg moved to Holyoke to be close to family in the area.

“I thought I was retired,” he laughed, explaining that he then went on to purchase the coffee and bake shop. His career path may have taken a few turns, but there’s been some consistency through it all. The work ethic and respect that he learned in the service, for example, is simply a part of who he is now, and it’s been a part of his work at every turn.

In addition to working, Berg has also spent several decades being involved in the American Legion. When he started, he saw it as a sort of patriotic thing he could do. He figured he was a veteran so he should belong.

It was also more common at the time, he explained. People didn’t connect through social media back then. Joining the American Legion was a way that veterans could connect with one another. It was easy to find common ground with other members because everyone had been in the service and many had been in combat areas.

For Vietnam veterans in particular, Berg said, public support hasn’t always been readily offered. When they returned from the war, they weren’t seen as heroes and didn’t receive the type of warm welcome that the military was given after previous wars.

Nevertheless, Berg settled into his identity as a veteran. Today you may notice “veteran owned business” signs at Brewed Awakening or see Berg wearing his Vietnam veteran hat. When he meets a fellow veteran, he gets to know them. When he has the opportunity, he likes to support other veteran business owners, too.

Though he didn’t receive a particularly warm welcome when he returned to the United States in 1970, he feels like people today are more appreciative of Vietnam veterans. He’s experienced it out shopping when strangers have stopped him to say “thank you” or out to eat when a grateful patron has purchased his meal for him.

Last year, Berg spoke at the Haxtun Veterans Day program. He shared his story and encouraged the young people there to consider serving in some way, be it military, peace corps or some sort of missions. Based on his own experience of “growing up fast,” he believes that the youth of today could benefit from even a short amount of time spent serving.

Gaining work ethic, exposure to other cultures and respect could very well be something they carry into their own work experience for the next 50 years.

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