Turning a life altering change into a worthy mission, helping disabled veterans

Garrett Barton, Circle K Franchise Business Consultant, joins the show to chat about his time in the Navy, how his injury led him to the DAV, and why Circle K has decided to donate to and partner with the DAV.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
As promised, we are now joined by Garrett Barton from
Circle K. Garrett is a franchise business consultant there with
their worldwide franchise group. He is also a Navy veteran. Garrett,
thank you for joining us today and thank you for
your service.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hey, I appreciate it so very much. It's an honor
and privilege to be here, and I'm very excited for
the five K rice tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Absolutely looking forward to it myself. I know you've been
with Circle K for eleven years now, and I just
learned today actually that Circle K is now the official
convenience store of the dav of Massachusetts. How did that
partnership end up coming about?

Speaker 2 (00:41):
You know, it's been a number of years in the making,
say to Moscow, who just had on and my boss,
our regional director, Pete Radswitz, have been working together for
a number of years helping out at the golf tournaments
in the five K. We've been supplying some items like
water and things of that nature of a number of years.
With p and I talking, we decided to take it

(01:02):
to the next level. So we went to our marketing department,
into our VPS and said, look, you know what this
is something that we really need to be involved in,
and being a DAV myself, it really hits home. So
we were able to take it up a notch and
now Circle Katy is donating thirty thousand dollars to the
DAV Massachusetts. So it's a huge honor, huge privilege, and

(01:25):
something that's been in a number of years of making
and we're so happy and proud to be a part
of this organization.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
Garrett, you mentioned that you have experience with the DAV yourself.
I know that you joined the Navy back in nineteen
eighty three and served through nineteen eighty eight. Can you
tell our listeners a little bit about your time in
the Navy.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yeah, it was something that I'm very proud of done.
My father was a Korean War veteran, so it was
something in the family. My brother in law was also
in the Marines, so something that we've all been indoctrinated into.
And I wanted to go into something that was going
to be very advanced as far as going to college

(02:10):
and things of that nature. So I really took advantage
of the VA benefits and the VA Bill to be
able to go to college and get my degrees to
the VA. Now I started off in San Diego. They
got transferred up to the Great Lakes, Illinois doing advanced electronics,
and mine was a six year mandatory enlistment since I
did two years of schooling. Then I transferred over to
Virginia Beach and finished my last Missile Radar System school

(02:32):
and was assigned to the USS Barney DDG six guide
miss of the destroyer out of Norfolk, Virginia. And during
that time, of course, you go on a number of
cruises and things of that nature. But I blown out
my knee and I went through a year's therapy with
that through the VA Hospital Enforcement Virginia, And unfortunately, since

(02:53):
I'm not fit for the fleet because of my knee,
I was not fit for the Navy and I was
mentally discharged under honorablekenitions. So with that I got involved
in the DAV a whole lot more. They paid for
all my schooling, they paid for all my surgeries, all
everything I've had to have done. The VA was there
for me. I've been to sixteen VA hospitals throughout the country,

(03:14):
as I've lived in sixteen different states and been to
all fifty and have never ever had a bad experience
at a VA hospital, and you know, a shout out
goes out to all the nurses, the assistants, the helpers,
and the doctors of the VA hospitals. They've all been
tremendous and I'm very proud of them all and very
proud to be part of the organization.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
Garrett, I understand that you also play a leading role
for all the veterans that work for Circle K. Regarding
the National Brave Organization, can you tell our listeners a
little bit about that organization and your involvement in that program.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah, The Brave Organization is a group of veterans within
the Circle K organization where we have our own little
group to talk about veterans ideas things how we can
promote the veterans and the dav how we can get
out to other veterans within the community as well within
our own community outside our local geographical area, as well

(04:11):
as within Circletate itself. So it's a spotlight where we
do articles, we have weekly we have quarterly newsletters. We
actually just sent out the red poppy pin to all
of our personnel throughout the franchise group to help support
the organization and bring awareness to it. And so many veterans,

(04:32):
as Isaiah was mentioned earlier, that they just don't have
a clue on all benefits and opportunities that are there
for them and how important it is for them to
reach out to the DA. As Isaiah had stated earlier,
you know, it's not necessarily an easy situation, but the
payoff is tremendous. What they can do for you and
help you, and so many things I never had a

(04:54):
clue on. You know. I notified my father, you know,
when he was getting older about the VA and things
that they could do, as well as my brother in law,
and we really I talk to people all over the
country about this everywhere I go. I traveled everywhere, and
I know I get up with all the different veterans
and let them know what's going on. You know, I
have veterans come back to me and see Garrett, thank

(05:16):
you so much for giving me this information. You were
absolutely great, and I appreciate so much because I had
no idea what I was eligible for sure until I
went and asked. So it's a great honor and I'm
so happy to me it would be a part of
that would circle k and as a dav Well.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
Garrett, thank you again for the time today. Thank you
for your service, and thank you for the support of
the dav Department of Massachusetts. Again, we really appreciate you
joining us and just thank you so much for everything
that you're doing on behalf of veterans.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for the time,
and throw all your veterans out there. You know, if
you don't know, go out and talk to somebody.