A major goal of this Tunes for Our Troops was to connect those serving our country abroad with the people back in the USA benefiting from their efforts; I wanted to make it personal for each of the recipients and all of the donors.  One of the airwomen that received an iPod had the brilliant idea of asking the recipients who reached out to me through email or Facebook if they would be willing to send me a brief bio and picture with their new iPod Shuffle.  So far I have only received one, but I'm hoping to hear from a few more as more service members get their iPods.

SSgt A. Rothrock is based out of Langley AFB, Virginia and is currently deployed in Afghanistan.  He enlisted 4.5 years ago and will soon be returning to the States.

SSgt A. Rothrock with his iPod Shuffle from 'Tunes for Our Troops'

From my brief conversations with SSgt Rothrock, I immediately saw his passion: music.  He plays the guitar and writes/records his own music. Rothrock even has his own studio where he records, mixes, and edits soundtracks.  Since the space on the Shuffles was very limiting in the variety and amount of music I could upload, I was glad to hear that I included one of his favorite groups: The Beatles.  I think one thing just about every person in existence can agree upon is that there are very few groups that could beat the classics of the Beatles.  Rothrock recommended to me the musician/songwriter Andrew Bird and his album "Break It Yourself."  I cannot wait to look into his music once the craziness of preparing to leave for college ends.

SSgt Rothrock also shared with me that he has a beautiful Australian Shepherd/Lab mix named Honey waiting for him at home.  I know she will be very happy to see him in a few weeks.

I also asked Rothrock a few very tough questions:
       1. If you could have dinner with any musician, who would it be? Why? What is one question you would ask him or her?
       2. What piece of advice would you give to someone thinking about joining the military?
As a musician, he immediately skipped dinner and went straight to jamming out with Sam Beam of Iron and Wine.  Rothrock told me that he would ask Beam "where he draws his imagery from when he writes his lyrics and how he meticulously transposes them into his music."  Being a songwriter himself, Rothrock went on to say that this is question he would ask many artists to understand their thought process behind creating their music.  As for his words of wisdom... 

"The effort one puts forth is in direct relation to what one gets in return, such as any direction one chooses in life; whether one chooses college, the workforce, trade school, the military or the other countless possibilities. Chose the direction you believe you will commit your greatest effort."

I'd like to thank SSgt. A. Rothrock for taking the time to contact me and show his gratitude for the project.  He has been very kind in even offering to help out with the organization this year. I wish him the best of luck and hope he returns home safely.

If you too are the recipient of an iPod from this project, I encourage you to contact me and send me even just a picture of yourself!  I would love to put more posts like this one up.  My email is tunesforourtroops@gmail.com and you can also send me a message via Facebook.