The Next Note: Navy Musician Takes Center Stage on Her First Deployment

DILI, Timor-Leste – In May 2026, Musician 3rd Class Jasmine Rodriguez started her first deployment carrying much more than a microphone. As a vocalist currently assigned to the Pacific Partnership Band as part of the host nation outreach line of effort for Pacific Partnership 2026 (PP26), she carries with her a musical legacy spanning two centuries, carefully crafted by generations of U.S. Navy musicians.

During this year’s iteration of the Pacific Partnership mission, Rodriguez is experiencing her first deployment while the U.S. Navy commemorates the 200th anniversary of the creation of the Musician (MU) rating. Rodriguez’s role in the deployment adds her own unique note to a Navy musical score that has been playing for more than 200 years. As the band’s vocalist, her voice adds to the vibrant blend of saxophones, tubas, trumpets, drums, bass guitar and trombones filling the air during outreach events and concerts at primary and secondary schools, community centers and town squares throughout each PP26 mission stop.

“Music is a universal language - some of the most important work we do is connecting with audiences through music,” she said. “I think our job in Pacific Partnership is a beautiful way to utilize language and put that into practice. We’re not here focused on just veterans and active-duty military, we’re helping the communities here and bringing joy to people who may have never had the opportunity to experience live music like this.”

Her path toward performing with the Pacific Partnership Band started after she enlisted in the Navy.

Rodriguez reported to Recruit Training Command Great Lakes for basic training in June 2025. By August, she had arrived in Hawaii to join the U.S. Pacific Fleet Band, her first and current duty station.

“I hit the ground running as soon as I checked in - I was ready to get out there,” exclaimed Rodriguez. “It was fairly easy for me to find my place with the band because I was already used to meeting and working with different musicians and groups from my earlier days in theater and opera.”

A few months after arriving in Hawaii, Rodriguez learned she would deploy with the Pacific Partnership Band in January 2026.

“When I checked in, I made it known I was really interested to go on deployment,” said Rodriguez. “Coincidentally, the other vocalist I work with, was already deployed for Pacific Partnership 2025, and the vocalists alternate deployments every year. So, in a way, I already knew I was going to deploy this year when I found out we alternate yearly.”

Making music for a living comes with ebbs and flows and challenges of its own, even within the Navy.

During her time on Pacific Partnership, Rodriguez says she learned the mission is about more than rehearsals, concert halls and fleet ceremonies. Her first deployment has brought long days, unfamiliar places and performances that don't stop when exhaustion sets in.

“The days that we are tired and exhausted, we have to push through - you feel the pressure to have to perform,” said Rodriguez. “As a result of getting through the gigs, we have developed more stamina than we had before, and I feel that, personally, with my vocal ability, I’ve gained a lot more endurance, range and confidence in improvisation since being on the road.”

August marks the midpoint of this year’s iteration of the humanitarian and disaster preparedness mission. Pacific Partnership 2026 is currently in Dili, Timor-Leste, marking the third mission stop of the deployment.

Rodriguez's most memorable moment of the deployment so far was during PP26’s second mission stop in Sibolga, Indonesia.

“We had a performance in Indonesia where I sang a song in Bahasa that’s really popular, but also traditionally a sad song because it’s about losing someone you love,” recalled Rodriguez. “The kids around us knew the chorus and were singing so loudly. Then a woman came out of the crowd and started singing with me, and she began crying as she sang. I was so moved by how much the song affected her. We hugged after the song, and it was just such a beautiful moment.”

Rodriguez’s story of taking the stage did not begin with the Navy - it started in Los Angeles, where she was born into a musically rooted family of four with a rich tradition, long before she ever imagined the words musician and sailor next to one another.

“My family is very musical,” Rodriguez said. “I grew up singing in a church, which is where a lot of people grow up singing. My dad played the guitar at church, my mom plays the flute and sings in the choir, and my brother plays guitar, the piano and is a bit of a theater nerd.”

“As a child, I would be in the choir section for the church while they performed and sang,” reminisced Rodriguez. “So you can say that I was a product of that environment.”

Music was a constant throughout Rodriguez’s childhood, woven into her family, her church and the dreams she had of making a career singing on stages.

“I always knew I wanted to be a singer,” said Rodriguez. “It’s shifted several times over the years, from wanting to be a pop star like Hannah Montana, to classical music, to wanting to be an opera singer and travel the world.”

She began with theater and musicals, moved into choir in high school and eventually began taking voice lessons. By college, what had started as a fascination had grown into years of serious musical study.

“Theater really helped me develop my stage presence as far as seeing how I move while I perform and allowing me to be more comfortable in how I perform and interact with crowds,” said Rodriguez. “In a professional studio, there are normally mirrors on the walls so that you can see and practice how you sing, how you perform and see what does and does not work.”

The stages and audiences Rodriguez performed for changed throughout the years. Over time she became a classically trained singer and, shortly after, a professional one. Her path may have taken several turns along the way, but Rodriguez feels that, in a way, she ended up right where she was supposed to be.

As the MU rate celebrates their 200th anniversary, she places herself amongst generations of musicians who carried the same tradition before her.

The stages have changed. The songs have changed. But for 200 years, the music has played on, and musicians will continue to sing the Navy’s story.

“What I value the most is human connection, being able to uplift others and making people happy,” said Rodriguez with a smile. “I get to do all three of those things by being a musician.”

Now in its 22nd iteration, the Pacific Partnership series is the largest annual multinational humanitarian assistance and disaster management preparedness mission conducted in the region. Pacific Partnership works collaboratively with host and partner nations to enhance regional interoperability and disaster response capabilities, increase security in the region, and foster new and enduring friendships in the Indo-Pacific.

For more information about Pacific Partnership visit www.facebook.com/pacificpartnership, www.instagram.com/pacific_partnership/ or https://www.dvidshub.net/feature/PacificPartnership.

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