Veteran presence: Gundlach brings perspective, dogged passion to Badgers
November 11, 2022 | General News, Men's Rowing, Andy Baggot
Drawing on a lifetime with his loyal sidekick, Marine’s message has bite
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — The gravestone is situated on a wooded incline overlooking a pond, on a parcel of private land near Stoughton. Ross Gundlach visits often, bearing gifts and news of the day.
"It's a special place," he said.
Gundlach began hanging out on the property, owned by the family of a close friend, when he was attending Oregon High School. He and his buddies loved to hunt and camp there. In time he saw it as a worthy final resting place for a hero.
"When we are there," Gundlach said, "she's always looking over us up on the hillside."
Casey, a spectacularly brave, calm and selfless Yellow Labrador Retriever, is buried beneath a unique stone-like marker. It's adorned with an eagle, globe and anchor, the unmistakable insignia of the U.S. Marine Corps.
For a good chunk of her life, Casey served her country as a Marine sergeant by doing one of the most dangerous jobs on earth. She was trained to detect bombs hidden by the enemy and Gundlach was her handler. Together they went on roughly 120 missions while stationed in Afghanistan in 2011, typically riding in the first vehicle in a convoy in order to assess the threat level.
"If you're a dog handler, the only real stat that matters is, did you miss something," Gundlach explained. "We all know what happens in the chain of events if you did. Your dog dies first, you die second, your spotter dies third and everyone behind you dies."
The singular objective of a bomb handler is to be perfect, to miss nothing. Gundlach and Casey missed nothing in the middle of a war zone. Countless people — soldiers, spouses, children, parents and family members — are forever in their debt.
Gundlach, currently a graduate assistant coach with the Wisconsin men's rowing team, may well think of all those grateful people on Veteran's Day, but his heart, mind and soul will be focused on a solemn place in the woods. He and his wife Valerie plan to bring a bouquet of fresh flowers and some beers to toast Casey.
"We'll tell her about what's going on," Gundlach said, "and how happy we are to have known her."
They will not mourn.
"You doing them no service by ruining your life in misery," Gundlach said. "They want the best for you."
When Casey died in April, she was 13, which is 91 in people years. Gundlach, who has an elaborate tattoo of Casey on his right forearm, said she enjoyed good health and died of natural causes.
"It was incredibly peaceful," he said. "She was the sweetest, nicest dog."
Gundlach, 35, saw to it that Casey was honored with a funeral for her military service. He and his best friend, a UW graduate and decorated Marine named Frederick "Fritz" van Steenderen, buried her in a drill ceremony.
Gundlach and Casey were temporarily separated in 2012 because she was still regarded as a government employee and he was headed off to college. They were poignantly reunited for good in 2013 after Casey spent time in Iowa as a bomb/arson dog.
"I feel like the luckiest man on earth because Casey spent her whole life with me and it was a good one," Gundlach said.
If Gundlach isn't the luckiest man on earth, he just might qualify as its most ambitious. Born in Madison and raised in Oregon, graduating from high school in 2006, he spent four years with the Marines and four with the Wisconsin Army National Guard before putting his GI Bill to extraordinary use.
"I maxed it out for sure," he said.
Gundlach got an associate's degree at Madison College in 2015, a bachelor's degree from UW in '17 and a master's from UW-Parkside in '19. He's on pace to get his doctorate from UW-Whitewater in 2023. That's four separate degrees from four different Wisconsin institutions. Business administration, real estate coaching and leadership are among his passions.
"I have a couple irons in the fire," he said. "I could utilize a multitude of things."
Gundlach, whose first job was selling peanuts at Camp Randall Stadium as a 12-year-old, was 28 when he called UW men's rowing coach Chris Clark and asked if he could walk on. Gundlach was enamored with the idea that he could potentially letter in a Division I sport, with his hometown Power Five institution no less, without any previous experience. Never mind that crew might be the most demanding team sport on the planet.
UW assistant coach Beau Hoopman, an Olympic gold medalist in 2004, said Gundlach had the right mix of athleticism and desire.
"I liked his attitude," Hoopman said.
Gundlach rowed for one year before old injuries caught up to him. He was retained as a student assistant coach, then bumped up to graduate assistant coach. His current responsibilities include recruiting, safety coordinator on the water, social media and character development.
"A guy like him, you just want his perspective of life," Hoopman said. "He's a good reference for those kids when they think they have it pretty bad or it's too hard or they can't go any farther.
"When he talks to the guys they listen. He's an invaluable piece to our team."
Clark, the longest-tenured coach at UW going back to 1996, said Gundlach has had an undeniable impact on the culture of the team in part because he's intense, but also because he's in everyone's corner 100 percent.
"I just see him as an evangelist for opportunity, really," Clark said. "He has this constant refrain of 'Don't miss this chance.'
"Ross fulfills a need that I didn't realize we needed, that serious, rah-rah but not any BS way, and really straightforward.
"We need to fill that gap when he's done. It doesn't have to be Ross 2.0, but I realize how cool it is to have a guy like him."
Hoopman's family has a history with dogs, specifically lab retrievers, so he appreciated the relationship Gundlach had with Casey, who was a regular visitor to Porter Boathouse.
"He treated her like she was one of the biggest heroes in the military," Hoopman said. "You could tell that dog was a big part of his life."
Gundlach said Casey affected countless lives after she retired. She volunteered at various civic events, especially if they included kids, and was a regular on Badger Honor Flights, which involved escorting war veterans to Washington, D.C.
What does Veteran's Day mean to Gundlach?
"I do have a past I look at, but now as someone who's not incredibly young and has seen war, Veteran's Day is something I always think about future veterans and how do we prevent that and what can be done to help them," he said.
The Gundlachs are sure to do some reminiscing when they sit down to talk to Casey on Friday.
"I really don't feel like she's gone," Ross said. "She's in me. She's part of me."
