Rock Roszak

Co-author and illustrator Colonel Richard S. “Rock” Roszak is the son of immigrants who came to America from a war-ravaged Europe. He grew up in Staunton, Virginia, and graduated from Virginia Tech in 1971 as a member of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets. He was commissioned into the United States Air Force where he earned his navigator wings and accumulated over 2,000 flying hours, mostly in B-52D/F/G and C-135 aircraft, over a twenty-seven-year active duty career. His staff tours included time as a special assistant to the Air Force Chief of Staff, liaison officer to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees for strategic aircraft programs, and as the Senior Technical Advisor to the Special Ambassador for assistance agreements to demilitarize the strategic nuclear launch vehicles of the former Soviet Union. His final active duty tour was as the Commander, Air Force ROTC Detachment 875 at Virginia Tech. During his tenure, the detachment led the nation in earned scholarships and grew from the 36th to the 8th largest Air Force ROTC unit in the country. After retiring from the Air Force in 1998, Rock spent fourteen years on the staff of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets, returning to where he began his military career. During those years he established an alumni aviation gallery, which featured his artwork of aircraft flown by cadet grads which highlighted more than 60 years of military aviation history. An avid modeler in his younger years, he has been a digital artist for over twenty years and has illustrated more than two dozen books in partnership with his friend, Bert Kinzey. In 2017, Rock’s role at Detail & Scale expanded when he authored one book and co-authored another. He is responsible for all publishing aspects of Detail & Scale’s books in both print and digital formats. Rock currently lives in Blacksburg, Virginia, with his wife, Patty, two daughters, and six grandchildren.