Rich Berg becomes the Officer in Charge of Station St. Ignace during the change of command ceremony Friday, May 14. Attending the ceremony are (from left) Master Chief Gregory Teagle, Captain Mark Huebschman, and Senior Chief Rich Berg. (Photograph provided by Station St. Ignace) Rich Berg's rise through the ranks has been swift, with each tour cut short by an advancement to new responsibilities. His latest promotions have been as Senior Chief in April and as Officer in Charge of Coast Guard Station St. Ignace during a change of command ceremony Friday, May 14.

“It was a good career move,” he said.

He joined the Coast Guard several months after completing high school in 1998 on the advice of his father, Delano, who also served in the military.

“Watching him as I grew up, I knew I wanted to join the military,” he said.

The Coast Guard was somewhat of a destiny, he said, noting that his birthday, January 28, is the same as the establishment of the service in 1915, when the Revenue Cutter Service merged with the United States Life-Saving Service to become the U. S. Coast Guard. It is also the same day in 1980 that the Coast Guard Cutter Blackthorn collided with the tankship Capricorn, he notes.

At right: Rich Berg became the Officer in Charge of Coast Guard Station St. Ignace May 14. Mr. Berg settles into his office Thursday, May 27, saying the highly qualified crew at the station has made his transition easy. But the Coast Guard's focus on helping others play a significant role in his decision.

“The Coast Guard is more humanitarian,” he said.

His first tour brought him to Portsmouth, Virginia, where he was stationed on a cutter patrolling the Caribbean Sea. The cutter performed search and rescue missions and intercepted illegal drug and immigration vessels, and his unit took part in a large marijuana bust when 12,500 pounds of the substance was found on a freighter bound for the United States.

He worked hard during his tour, quickly advancing through the ranks. Within two years he was promoted from a Seaman Recruit to a Petty Officer Second Class and was placed in a supervisory position by the time he was 20.

From Virginia, he transferred to Clearwater, Florida, where he stayed for four years, and then to Wisconsin, where he studied about the new icebreaker Mackinaw while it was being built. He served on the new Great Lakes icebreaker for about three years, and then transferred again to Station Key West in Key West, Florida.

In Key West, Mr. Berg was certified to be a pursuit coxswain. In one instance, he recalled, he and his crew members were in pursuit of a boat of illegal Cuban immigrants. Despite their efforts, he said, the boat refused to stop and he had to use a shotgun to disable the ship's outboard motor. The immigrants were then transported to a larger vessel, where they were checked for immigration paperwork.

After spending a year in Key West, he was transferred to Seattle for two years, and then to St. Ignace.

“It's a very upbeat crew,” he said. “They're very qualified to operate the boats, so it’s been very easy for me.”

His new goal is to become a master chief or warrant officer.

He and his wife of 10 years, Genni, have two sons, Roman, age four, and Griffin, age two. He enjoys cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, diving, and fishing, although he needs to work on some of his hobbies.

“I think my son [Roman] is a better fisherman than I am,” he noted.

In his heart, he is a family man.

“Just spending time with my family is really important to me, “ he said.