I got the Sunset on a trip back to the states last month. Currently stationed in Germany. I don't know squat about manipulating smart phones. Question is: Will "rooting" this phone unlock the ability to use other SIM cards? And will it wipe my phone with all the photos and apps?
No for both.
The LG Sunset doesn't have a SIM card slot, you can use it on TracFone for one year then you can use it with other GSM service providers. Rooting doesn't wipe the phone, unlocking the bootloader on most phones will. It's not possible to unlock the bootloader on the Sunset as it is a TracFone.