Thank You for Your Service, Dan Lollis

Yahoo

06-05-2025

(SPARTANBURG, S.C. (WSPA) – Navy veteran Dan Lollis said he thought his time in the service would be a short stint.
'Obviously, at the time, I didn't know I was going to spend 20 years and then retire,' Lollis told 7 NEWS. 'I had no idea what I was going to do after high school, and I didn't have the means to go to college at the time. And obviously back then, Woodruff was not as built up as it is now.'
His dad, an Army veteran, Lollis said he and a buddy signed up to join the Navy.
'I told the recruiter, I said I want something that would correlate to when I get out,' Lollis shared.
And for him, that would be a Logistics Specialist First Class.
'When the plane breaks, they'll come to us, and they'll send this paperwork to order parts and stuff for the engines,' Lollis said. 'If anything breaks, it comes to us.'
Lollis got his training for his specialty in Meridian, Mississippi.
'At Aviation Storekeeper Aid School, and I was there for two months,' Lollis said. 'And when I left there, then I went to Guam.'
Then came deployment.
'I checked onboard the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan,' he said.
It was on one of Lollis' many deployments that he would watch the Twin Towers come down.
'We're sitting there looking at the TV,' Lollis continued. 'And we saw the first plane hit the building and everybody at the table, our first reaction was, 'what movie is this?''
Lollis said he knew shortly that the United States would be going to war.
'We were the first carrier to launch airstrikes in Afghanistan,' he recounted. 'So all of us went up on the flight deck and watched the plane leave. F-18s. All the others loaded down with ammunition came back, and they were completely empty.'
Lollis explained it was a lot of time away from family.
'My son was born when I was on the Reagan in 2007,' he said. 'And I missed its first two birthdays because I was gone on deployment.'
Lollis said he couldn't have done it without his wife.
'As I say, a lot of military wives don't get enough recognition for taking care of the kids,' said Lollis.
In 2012, he retired after a 20-year career.
'I enjoyed my time in, like, I went all over the western part of the world. I mean, Hong Kong travel times, Singapore. I went to Dubai
Lollis says while it was hard at times, the Navy afforded him a lot.
'By the tail end of my career, I started going to college,' he said. 'And then after I retired, in 2015, I graduated with my bachelor's degree.'
Lollis said the Navy gave him skills he still uses today.
'I'm still working in the logistics injury industry, and I'm a defense contractor,' Lollis explained. 'I would have to go around and audit parts and materials for the Department of Defense.'
That, and being a dad and husband to his wife, Leanne, and kids, Kaiden and Danica.
Dan Lollis, thank you for your service.
To nominate a veteran like Dan Lollis to be featured in our Thank You for Your Service series, click here.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WSPA 7NEWS.