The legacy of service runs deep in the Patton family. From the stories of the military history of General George S. Patton to the ongoing efforts to support veterans today, this family’s commitment to honoring those who serve is unwavering. At the heart of this mission are Bob Patton and his siblings, who carry forward their family’s traditions through the Green Meadows-Patton Alliance for Veterans.
In this Q&A, we sit down with Bob Patton to explore his journey, the inspiration behind the Alliance, and the powerful ways he’s working to uplift and empower veterans. From honoring the past to addressing the present-day challenges facing those who’ve served, Bob shares how family values, community, and advocacy come together to make a difference.
Dive into this conversation to learn more about his passion for veterans and the legacy that continues to inspire generations.
Q: How old were you when you first learned about your family’s history in the military?
Bob Patton: As a so-called “army brat,” I moved constantly from post to post with my family as required by my father’s 34-year military career. I was aware that through both my father’s and mother’s ancestry, the military was our family trade, with professional officers in every generation dating back to colonial times.
But within the tight-knit army community, neither traveling nor generational commitment to serve was rare. Beginning in my earliest childhood, all my friends had multiple relatives in uniform, and all of us understood that within a year or two, our families would move to new postings, and we’d likely fall out of touch with each other. It was accepted and, in our minds, unremarkable.
I first became aware of my family’s history when I was in elementary school in the late 1960s. During each of my father’s three combat tours in Vietnam, we moved near my mother’s parents (her father was a retired brigadier general) in Washington, D.C., where I attended a Quaker school dedicated to pacifist values. Neither my teachers nor classmates had experience with the military, but the sensitivity they showed for the one among them with a dad off at war made me realize that my life was different from theirs.
This awareness heightened when the movie Patton, about my grandfather, the famous World War Two general George S. Patton, came out in 1970 and went on to win the Best Picture Academy Award. Although mixed with personal misgivings about the supposed “celebrity” that went along with being the grandson of a movie icon, it led me to consider my family’s history in a more comprehensive and hopefully useful way to honor and benefit all of America’s veterans, not just the Pattons.
Q: How has your family’s military history influenced your commitment to supporting veterans?
BP: I did ROTC in college but ultimately decided not to become a commissioned officer. In the years since, I’ve published a memoir of my family and spoken countless times about the famous general and the military heritage he and my other forebears exemplify. But not joining the military didn’t change the legacy I’d inherited and the debt I owed to all servicemembers. As a result, I’ve tried ever since to help foster understanding and gratitude from the civilian population toward America’s veterans. It’s the least I could do, after all.
Q: 
When did you first make the connection between supporting veterans and cannabis?
BP: When my family first contemplated entering the cannabis business, our focus was on cultivating cannabis under the principles of organic agriculture that my father brought to the Massachusetts fruit & vegetable farm called Green Meadows, which he founded in 1980 after retiring from the military. Two of my siblings work extensively with veterans on a volunteer basis, my brother focusing on recent vets of the Iraq/Afghanistan era, and my sister working with “Greatest Generation” vets returning to Europe to visit the battlefields of their youth. Whether young or old, many of these men and women suffer from long-term physical or psychological effects of their time in service that cannabis, many attest, can help assuage.
The cannabis business has enabled my family to participate in an exciting emerging industry while keeping true to our values of organic, sustainable agriculture and dedication to veteran support. Our initial goal was to become a wholesale provider of high-quality cannabis to Massachusetts medical dispensaries serving veterans seeking an alternative to opioids and other pharmaceuticals that often come with negative side effects. The state’s legal requirement that medical cannabis companies be vertically integrated with seed-to-sale capability led us to establish our first dispensary in Southbridge in 2020.
To support the business and the desires of the local community, we subsequently became licensed as an adult-use (recreational) provider and retailer. But in our now two dispensaries (with a third scheduled to open this spring), we highlight our priority as a medical provider. We are not physicians and make no claim that cannabis is a perfect remedy for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, insomnia, anxiety, or pain. But on the basis of emerging scientific research and personal testimony from veterans and patients, we believe that medical cannabis should be part of the arsenal of potential remedies for these debilitating symptoms and ailments.
Q: What are some of the most impactful initiatives the Green Meadows-Patton Alliance for Veterans has undertaken?
BP: The Green Meadows-Patton Alliance for Veterans opened up two paths by which our company could offer veteran support. The first path is as an outreach mechanism to patients, adult-use customers, and other like-minded businesses, most notably 6 Brick’s dispensary in Springfield, MA, that don’t have affiliated nonprofits but share our values and our desire to help the veteran community. All have stepped up with financial support that we put to work through national entities such as Stop Soldier Suicide and Black Veterans Project and local organizations such as the Southbridge Veterans Council.
GM-PAV also serves an educational function. Our stores regularly host educational sessions for veterans, many of them from the older Vietnam generation less familiar with the ways cannabis can be safely and legally integrated into a healthy lifestyle regimen. In those sessions, we explain different applications of cannabis, from flower to concentrates. We discuss cannabis strains, CBD, and other cannabinoids, and help participants to connect with a doctor to receive a medical card that will entitle them to tax-free purchases and stronger potencies to better address their ailments.
Q: Can you talk about the connection between your family’s military legacy and the modern-day challenges veterans face?
BP: The terrible rate of veteran suicide in America (at least 22 per day, according to many studies) should break the heart of every American. No doubt there are many reasons why veterans might be driven to kill themselves, but to whatever extent, such as long-term pain and psychological symptoms related to PTSD, cannabis has provided relief for many veterans. It’s interesting to contemplate if, within my family, men like my father and grandfather, strong-willed military officers who lived in an era when PTSD was not understood and whose symptoms were often stigmatized as the result of weakness or cowardice, might have benefited from the relief cannabis can offer.
My father, a highly decorated major-general when he retired from the military, certainly showed signs of depression and anxiety late in his life that perhaps cannabis might have helped. He died in 2004, so we’ll never know. The same is true of my grandfather, who likewise exhibited symptoms of PTSD after his illustrious career. I’ve found that many modern-day veterans take heart from knowing that even such renowned military men as General Patton were vulnerable to the lingering trauma of war.
Q: What challenges have you faced in advocating for veterans, and how have you overcome them?
BP: In America’s earlier, post-Vietnam era, veterans were not as universally honored by society as they are today. Protests against that war were often unfairly directed at veterans returning from Vietnam, many of whom had been drafted and only joined the fight reluctantly. As a result, many were loath to discuss their experiences and any resulting psychological trauma, which in turn led to their social isolation and inability to seek help and to heal. Fortunately, today, the military and society in general are much more understanding of the unique difficulties that many veterans face post-deployment.
The challenges in advocating for veterans today are mostly education about getting help for whatever debilities they face, whether psychological or physical. In the case of cannabis, for instance, many older veterans are simply unaware that cannabis may be more beneficial to their well-being than the usual pharmaceuticals prescribed by their doctors. Too, they may be uncomfortable and skeptical of the legality of cannabis in many states. For these folks, I’ve often found that they are encouraged by the fact that a military family like the Pattons participates in the cannabis industry.
Q: How do you incorporate family traditions and values into the work you do with veterans?
BP: Although my grandfather, the famous WW2 general, had a reputation for flashy arrogance in his leadership style, my father (his son) was very down-to-earth despite being a two-star general himself. Through his combat tours as a young officer – one in Korea, three in Vietnam – he was adamant that common soldiers, the so-called “grunts” operating at the squad level, are the heart of the army and deserve the same respect, if not more, as their highest ranking commanders.
In our company’s work with veterans, this perspective applies to how we engage with veterans of every background. No matter their gender or social identity, no matter if they served in combat or served in support roles or in times of peace, if they wore the uniform on behalf of our country, we at Green Meadows will do all we can to honor and support them.
Q: How has your view of veteran care evolved since starting this initiative?
BP: Veteran care is spearheaded at a national level by the Veterans Administration. Our family and our company can advocate, say, for more large-scale research and availability of medical cannabis for veterans, but we’re probably most effective at a grassroots level, working to educate and hire individual vets and to be an example of spiritual and financial support for veteran organizations, which themselves can also advocate for institutional change or individual engagement.
In short, I’ve come to understand that veteran support requires a multi-pronged approach at both a government and personal level. Every little bit helps, and we’re all in this together.
Q: How can the community get involved in supporting the Green Meadows-Patton Alliance for Veterans?
BP: Any non-profit organization welcomes volunteers and general good wishes for the work they do, but the truth is that America has many effective and well-meaning groups dedicated to veteran support. What they all need more than anything is funding. Through GM-PAV, we accept financial donations from other businesses or individual patrons (as well as donate ourselves) and funnel it to organizations that we’ve found to be particularly effective or targeted in their efforts, Stop Soldier Suicide being a good example.
We convey every dollar we receive to worthy organizations that we’ve identified. So whether to GM-PAV or some other entity of their choice, I encourage all those seeking to help vets to give what money they can to established organizations that are doing the good work.
Q: What future projects or initiatives are you looking forward to with the Alliance?
BP: We are always on the lookout for established organizations that have identified a particular need within the veteran community and are effectively meeting that need. Generally, we seek to support local initiatives along with those on a larger scale. It’s important to note that our charitable organization is but one of countless such organizations, some more effective than others. But continuing to partner with other cannabis businesses and with our Green Meadows patrons remains our foremost ambition.
Q: What does success look like for the Green Meadows-Patton Alliance for Veterans look like in years to come?
BP: I suppose the best answer is that we’d like the Green Meadows-Patton Alliance for Veterans to no longer be needed in the future. Which is to say, we’d like nothing better than for the government and for America’s largest veteran charities to be so effective in their work that a small non-profit like ours would be unnecessary.
But as long as we feel we can make a difference especially at the local and individual level, then we’ll continue as we have. It’s truly a privilege to support such an important group of American patriots as the men and women who’ve volunteered to defend our country.
Q: What’s one piece of advice you would give to families with a strong military tradition who want to give back to veterans?
BP: Families with longstanding military traditions have a unique perspective on challenges facing veterans today. The reason is because we have examples in our past of people who endured the trauma of war and, whether they spoke of it or not, endured the trauma of aftermath as well. We have the advantage of appreciating the difficulties of PTSD through the experience of forebears who didn’t understand that what they were going through was both universal and clinical, and not cause for shame or withdrawal from society.
In my case, I look at the post-deployment difficulties many of my military relatives faced with new understanding thanks to advances in the study of PTSD. I wish that those relatives could have gained the same understanding. I believe it would have helped their lives just as we at Green Meadows are trying, in our small way, to help the lives of veterans today.
Green Meadows Massachusetts Dispensaries — Honoring Veterans, Strengthening Communities
Bob Patton’s dedication to veterans and their families is a testament to the power of legacy, compassion, and action. Through the Green Meadows-Patton Alliance for Veterans, Bob and his family are bridging the gap between history and the present, supporting those who have served our country with resources, education, and a commitment to making a difference.
Whether you’re a veteran, a supporter, or simply someone inspired by their mission, there’s a role for you in this important work. By visiting Green Meadows dispensaries or contributing to GM-PAV, you can directly support initiatives that provide tangible aid and advocacy for veterans. Together, we can honor their sacrifices and build a community rooted in gratitude and care.
Join us in supporting veterans. Visit Green Meadows or learn more about the Green Meadows-Patton Alliance for Veterans to see how you can make a difference.
The contents of this blog are intended for informational purposes only. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
