Dustin Row founder of Songs4Soldiers

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Dustin Row is a veteran, father, musician, as well as founder and president of the not-for-profit organization Songs4Soldiers. Their mission is to enrich the lives of combat veterans and their families who have limited resources. We honor their service through effective assistance in everyday situations. Since the organization’s inception in 2013, Songs4Soldiers has held an annual benefit concert each September in Columbia, Illinois to raise funds. The organization has spent over $600,000 on 570 different combat veterans and and their families. Operated completely by volunteers, including Dustin, the charity is able to use 100% of the money raised and donated for its mission.

Several years before joining the military, Dustin had a deep premonition when visiting the Washington Monument and Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall on a field trip. Without knowing when, how or where he just knew he would serve in the military.

Just three months before 9/11 Dustin enlisted in the US Army Reserves. 2003 brought the build up to the Iraq War. Many reservist and National Guard were used to fill the need for the massive number of troops deployed. Dustin mobilized to Iraq. Their mission was to provide support and safely escort fuel convoys in Central and Western Iraq. The unit was based out of LSA Anaconda located in Balad, Iraq about thirty miles northwest of Baghdad. The unit faced almost daily enemy contact in the forms of small arms, IED (improvised explosive device), and landmines, none worse than on the day of April 9th, 2004.

The unit drove a support convoy directly into an ongoing offensive between the 3rd Calvary Armored Division of the U.S. Army and Shiite militiamen of the Mahdi Army. Dustin's 50 cal gun truck was one out of six trucks to even make it through the three mile long kill zone. His truck was also the only truck out of the entire convoy that didn’t have any dead or wounded in it. In the end, two of his fellow soldiers, PFC Gregory Goodrich and SGT Elmer Krause, were killed in action. Another soldier, SSG Matt Maupin, was captured by insurgents – his remains were not discovered until several years later. Five civilian drivers were killed and one is still missing. Fourteen soldiers and civilians were also wounded in the attack.

Dustin, like most combat veterans, often struggles with “Why?” With the benefit of a great family and the passing of time, some things have surfaced to help Dustin find an answer to that question. With the birth of his twins, Dustin realized he has the unrelenting desire to live every day to the fullest, a second chance to life that most people never get to experience, and the desire to use his skills to play and share music, and speak with people. All of these things have led him to channel his experiences from the past into one great cause: Songs4Soldiers! “I came home physically untouched. My community gave me a hero’s welcome, a job, and an amazing support system. Many came home to NOTHING. Songs4Soldiers exists for those who weren't so lucky, those who came home to nothing, those that need it most. Thank you for taking the time to read this’. "No one has ever become poor by giving." - Anne Frank