“Some people just can’t relate to understanding that life is so short. It can be here today and gone tomorrow. That is sad!” said Lance Kellogg, newly installed commander of VFW Post 5923.
Kellogg, who is also Jr. Vice Commander of the VFW’s 2nd District, is originally from Sioux City, Iowa. Having served 21 years in the Army before retiring in 1990, Kellogg has seen a lot and has experienced many traumatizing events. “You could write a book,” he said.
Enlisting in the service at 17 years old, Kellogg said he was like a lot of youth back then; his home didn’t have a mother and father. “My mother passed away when I was two and a half,” he said. “I grew up in a family that was pretty split. There were six of us. I attended school in several locations in the Unites States, just moving around with my sisters, aunts and dad.”
Kellogg said he got the experience of traveling a lot when he was young, and when he got into high school he was bored, running the streets with no supervision and no direction. “I got bored… really bored, and finally I was fed up. In 1969 I asked my Dad to sign me up in the Army.”
The military was a life-changing experience, Kellogg explained. “The discipline was good for me. It forced me to straighten up.”
As time went by, Kellogg said he eventually realized there was a way to get ahead in the service; he understood if he did his job and did it well, he would get promoted. With this insight, the military proved to be a home for Kellogg, who ended up with duty assignments that included a tour in Vietnam under the 11th Armored Calvary, three tours in Korea, and several duty stations in the United States.
Kellogg said he held numerous positions during his tenure, including drill sergeant, army recruiter, military police corp., operations sergeant, and detachment commander.
“I did a little bit of everything,” he said. “I tried to move around and touch all the bases. You take all the jobs people didn’t want to do, and get promoted,” he said. “I spent my 21 years in there and retired out of Fort Louis, Washington.”
Bashful about “spitting out his accomplishment,” Kellogg said he doesn’t like to brag. With a gentle urge, Kellogg revealed he earned twelve different medals/honors while serving in the Army.
Three years before retiring from the Army, Kellogg opened up and operated martial arts schools in the state of Washington until 1994. He moved back to the Lake area, where he also opened up a couple of schools, from which he is now retired.
Kellogg was inducted into two different martial arts Halls of Fame three times. He won a gold and bronze medal in 1998 at the Pan American games in Chicago, Ill., in which 34 countries participated.
Now Kellogg is a chainsaw carver in his retirement years. He has created several pieces for the county and others throughout the area. While Kellogg will sell some of his pieces, he says it is not a business.
“I am a chainsaw carver as a hobby,” he said. “I stay retired and enjoy my life.”
While Kellogg’s hobby is chainsaw carving, his passion lies in supporting veterans — all veterans, regardless of the years in which they served. Kellogg hopes to draw more to the VFW so they can experience the camaraderie.
Kellogg said he has been directly involved in combat and suffered some traumatizing events. “A lot of veterans went overseas and saw little action; my unit found activity real easy,” he said.
He said there are many people who have experienced wartime trauma, and no matter how involved or detached a person was from direct combat, they are all affected by their experiences.
Kellogg said one thing he learned was how short life is, and many people just don’t understand that. Kellogg reminisced back to a time when he was directly involved in war:
“…Something I will never forget. I was in my unit and we were in the jungle on patrol in a tank. We got hit. The enemy used a rocket propelled grenade (RPG). It went through the cupola of my tank. I was the loader. It just so happened I was sitting on top of the tank. My friend, the tank commander, was standing up on a seat down below. The RPG went through the side of the tank…it burned through the tank and it exploded. My friend… it hit below my friend and split him in half. We had to remove him by his pants and shirt…he was in two halves,” he said. “He only had five days left.”
“This was a little traumatizing. Something you never ever forget, but can’t talk to too many people about,” he said.
Kellogg added another tragedy, telling about another friend who had been shot in the chest four times.
“These are events that take place that are hard to sit and tell others. They think you are just telling war stories,” he said. “But these affect the way you live and the way you think.”
“Every veteran has some type of response or some type of affect that was left over from going into combat. I think, without realizing it, I even had a touch of the PTSD just by how I live my life,” he said. “I can tell I live my life different just because of the experiences I have had.”
Kellogg said the VFW is the place where a veteran can usually feel comfortable, share similar opinions and talk with other veterans who understand. “I want to make a difference,” he said. “That is why I wanted to be commander and hope to someday be higher up in the hierarchy to help make some changes.”
Kellogg, who is now retired and making a hobby out of chainsaw carving, has lived in Camdenton for 14 years with his wife, Vila. He has two step-children and three grandsons. His son-in-law is president of Central Bank and his daughter is a mortgage loan officer at the Camdenton branch of Central bank. His son works in IT at the state capital in Jefferson City.
