Navy Reserve Veteran Strausbaugh Cites Resilience, Determination as New Deputy

_{by Gianna Morera}

For as long as he can remember, Dan Strausbaugh had a clear design for his life: Serve and Defend with the U.S. Navy.
He had long joked, “If the Navy didn’t work out for some reason, I’d move out west and become a cowboy.” Now, after a few unanticipated jogs in the road, he’s built a lifestyle that is an amalgam of both dreams as owner-operator of a ranching business and the newest deputy to join the Hinsdale County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO).
Though Strausbaugh always envisioned himself in uniform, a sheriff’s badge wasn’t part of the picture. That is, until body cam footage of law enforcement misconduct prompted him to get curious about policing standards and culture.
While following the outcomes of various cases, he noticed officers justifying their actions on the basis of their training.
“I then developed an interest in, okay, how are cops being trained? Can some of these issues be sourced back to training? Or is it culture within departments, or what is it? So I figured, well, I want to know and the best way to know is to do,” says Strausbaugh.
As a student in law-enforcement academy, Strausbaugh described himself as “active”.
“I was challenging things, asking clarifying questions. There were quite a few times when things weren’t, in my opinion, clearly articulated and I’m thinking, ‘that’s pretty freaking important’, because that lack of clarity leads to the miscommunication leads to someone’s Fourth Amendment rights being trampled on.”
Originally from rural Maryland, Strausbaugh’s military career began in 2006 as a Naval Reserve officer at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI). It was here that he first swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. He views his role as a sheriff’s deputy as a way to continue serving the oath he took nearly 20 years ago.
Before pursuing a law enforcement career, Strausbaugh, who wears a prosthetic on his right arm, did his due diligence. “I’m great at being my own devil’s advocate,” he says. “I asked myself, ‘Am I capable of doing it? Am I going to be a liability because I have a hook as a limb instead of a fully dexterous hand?’”
Strausbaugh had a limb salvage amputation performed in 2017 after suffering nerve damage during Naval training in Oklahoma. He sought outside perspective from friends in law enforcement who gave him the assurance he needed to join the Spring 2025 class of the Law Enforcement Academy at the Technical College of the Rockies in Delta, Colorado.

“One of the overwhelming responses I got was, ‘Your disability might be a concern if I didn’t know you.’ But since these individuals I talked to knew my military background and knew what I was already doing as a cowboy and a firearms instructor, they said ‘You’re going to have to adapt to certain things, but you’ve already demonstrated that you can do what it takes’”, says Strausbaugh who runs Three Hands Ranch, which provides range management services, and Carbon Limb, a concealed carry training business, with his girlfriend Gabby.
After graduating from VMI in 2010, he commissioned as an active duty officer and traveled around the country for training until his medical retirement in 2015. Post-surgery, the adaptive sports program at Walter Reed Army Medical Center helped Strausbaugh orient to his changed body and offered a new outlet for his drive and ambition: snowboarding.
On winter trips with the Vail Veterans Program, Strausbaugh was scouted and began training and competing in the Paralympic World Cup circuit. The pandemic interrupted that pursuit. His visits to Colorado as a competitive snowboarder inspired a permanent move in 2019 when he purchased land and a home outside of Gunnison.
Courted by various agencies while attending academy, Strausbaugh chose the Hinsdale County Sheriff’s Office for its alignment with his principles and interests. A larger jurisdiction may have provided more “excitement” for a new officer, but for Strausbaugh, that’s not the goal. “America really exists in its local communities,” he says. “I’m drawn to where I can be of most service, and I think that that’s here.”
“I’ve read that smaller communities tend to function better and be more self-sufficient. They kind of solve their own problems, especially rural communities, and I would say that this is a great example of that to a large degree,” says Strausbaugh. “I think that’s more in line with the constitutional purpose of a sheriff’s office. We’re keepers of the peace, you know? We shouldn’t have to solve every problem, but we’re here if you need us.”
Importantly, he’s proud to report to a sheriff who is, unlike a police chief, an elected position. That accountability directly to the citizens is significant to Strausbaugh, who seeks to do the kind of policing that supports healthy communities and builds public trust.
Strausbaugh, known to some around town by his Navy call sign, “Lieutenant Dan,” joins Sheriff Denim Starnes and longtime peace officer and Lake City resident Charles “Yogi” Ferris, who rejoined HCSO part-time in May.