Army National Guard veteran sees similarities in life after service

Needing a change and structure, Weatherford’s Robert Hartmann had no idea how joining the Army National Guard in October 2000 would shape his life.

Now, 26 years later, Hartmann does his best to pay it forward, both personally and professionally. 

The owner of Hartmann Window Cleaning, Robert leads with his heart and his faith at the forefront. He and his team lead every day with prayer and each week, there is a different scripture above the door. 

“I have always had a servant’s heart.” he said. “I grew up in a Christian household and was saved at my grandmother’s funeral in 2014.”

While window cleaning and pressure washing is how he makes his living today, Robert was a combat medic when he joined the service in 2000. Shortly after he did his medical training at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio before heading to Attis, Oklahoma, for several months. Then, 9/11 happened. 

“I was activated and sent to Fort Carson, Colorado, to retrain medics before they were sent overseas,” Robert said, adding he was never deployed overseas himself. “I developed a live, simulated training course for other service men and women to be used in clinics.”

In 2003 he took extra courses and switched to the Air Force Reserves, which landed him at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth. After two years there he went on inactive duty and was honorably discharged in 2008 for medical reasons. 

“Even though my scores were good enough to continue in a different capacity, I decided to pursue other things,” he said. 

He worked for several companies in different positions before deciding to make his love for the outdoors into a career after a discussion at a church men’s group with someone who suggested he gives window-cleaning a try. 

“It seemed appealing to me, though getting up on ladders wasn’t necessarily my thing,” Robert said. “I got some great feedback from customers and it took off from there.”

Having experience with marketing, the know-how to start a business and with the start-up costs relatively low, Robert naturally grew Hartmann Window Cleaning over two to three years.

“My intentions weren’t necessarily to grow it; I just wanted to get by,” he said. “But I decided I could really scale the business and now we serve 1,400 customers.”

The lessons he learned as a soldier and those he uses in business are similar, Robert said, and one wouldn’t exist without the other.

“Discipline, structure, uniformity, systems and processes … all of it,” he said. “Without uniformity, especially, the wheels can’t turn and we’d be giving shoddy, inconsistent service and that I cannot accept.”

Robert said he always knew he wanted to support veterans because “they give so much.” When asked why he chose the pronoun “they” despite his service, Robert admitted the guilt he felt never having been deployed, adding that he didn’t feel like he “did a whole lot.”

“I would’ve gone but it wasn’t our time to go,” he said as he fought back tears. “I didn’t see what they saw. I didn’t have to think about going to war and never coming back. [To serve] is the ultimate selfless act.”

With a father and brother who also served, Robert said it impacted him and is why he will always choose servanthood over profits. 

“If I can help support a fellow vet by giving them a place to work and have God at the forefront of this company and their lives, then I am being a good servant whether it makes me money or not,” he said. “[Both the service and my faith] have made me a better person, husband and father and that will always be my top priority.”