After graduation from the University of Maryland, COL Lofgren enlisted in the Army to attend Officer Candidate School as one of the Army’s first College Option Candidates.  He attended Basic Training at Fort Jackson, SC, and OCS at Fort Benning, GA, where he was commissioned an Infantry Officer on 27 October, 1964. He also completed airborne training at Fort Benning. His initial duty was at Fort Ord, CA, where he served as Platoon Leader, Company B, then, while still a second lieutenant, as Commander, Company A, 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade (AIT).

He left the active Army in 1967 and served in the Army National Guard as Commander, Detachment A-4, Company B, 19th Special Forces Group, Towson, MD.  Returning to active duty in 1969, he was detailed to the Transportation Corps and attended the Transportation Officers Orientation Course at Fort Eustis, VA, and was then assigned as Commander, Company D (Light-Medium Truck), 56th Supply and Services Battalion, Fort Lee, VA.  After completing Jungle Operations training in Panama, he was assigned to the 4th Transportation Command (Terminal), Long Binh, Vietnam, where he served as G-3 Highway Operations Officer and then Commander of the Headquarters and Headquarters Company.

In 1971, he was commissioned in the Regular Army, previously being commissioned in the AUS, USAR and USARNG.  After graduation from the Transportation Officers Advanced Course, Fort Eustis, VA, in 1972, he was transferred to Hawaii and served with the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, U.S. Army Pacific, Fort Shafter, as a logistics evaluation officer and administrative officer.  His next Hawaii assignment was as the Chief of the Motor Transport Division, Directorate of Transportation, U.S. Army Support Command Hawaii.  In 1975, he was assigned to the 7th Transportation Group (Terminal), Fort Eustis, VA, as the Commander, 73d Transportation Company (Floating Craft), followed by assignments as the Operations Officer (S-2/3) for the 11th Transportation Battalion (Terminal) and then Executive Officer of the 10th Transportation Battalion (Terminal).

After graduation from the Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Virginia, in 1980, he was assigned to the Joint Deployment Agency, MacDill AFB, FL, serving as a Transportation Staff Officer and Deployment Plans Officer.  Assigned for a second tour with the 4th Transportation Command, this time in Oberursel, Germany, he served from 1983-1985 as the command’s Inspector General, followed by battalion command as the Commander, Military Traffic Management Command’s United Kingdom Terminal, Felixstowe, England.  In 1987, he was assigned as the Director of Training and Doctrine, U.S. Army Transportation School, Fort Eustis, VA.  Following graduation from the 1990 U.S. Army War College resident course, Carlisle Barracks, PA, he served as the Chief Logistics Officer of the eleven-nation Multinational Force and Observers, Sinai, Egypt, during the Gulf War.  COL Lofgren’s final active duty assignment was as the Director of Army Extension Training, U.S. Army Training Support Center, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Eustis, VA, where he retired on 31 August 1992.

His awards include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal w/2 Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Meritorious Service Medal w/3 Oak Leaf Clusters, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal w/2 Oak Leaf Clusters, National Defense Service Medal with Star, Vietnam Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon w/num3, Multinational Force and Observer’s Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, Vietnam Gallantry Cross w/palm Unit Citation, Expert Infantryman Badge and Parachutist Badge.  He has also been designated a Distinguished Member of the Transportation Corps Regiment and awarded the Transportation Corps’ Ancient Order of Saint Christopher.

Following active duty, Colonel Lofgren worked as the Director of Transportation, Greater Roanoke Transit Company, Roanoke, VA, until his retirement on 31 Dec, 2002.

COL Lofgren was inducted into the US Army Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame, Fort Benning, GA, in 2009.

COL Lofgren and his wife, former Army Nurse Joanne Drotos of Fredericktown, PA, have two adult children.