Coast Guard Career
After attending basic training at Coast Guard Station Cape May in Cape May, New Jersey in 1978, his first duty station was to a patrol boat, USCGC Point Swift in Clearwater, Florida. From there he was assigned to Coast Guard Station Marathon in the Florida Keys just in time for the Mariel boatlift in 1980. A subsequent assignment at Station Fort Pierce, Florida, was followed by another patrol boat, this time the newly commissioned USCGC Farallon, homeported in Miami. From south Florida he traveled to the Mid-Atlantic seaboard to join USCGC Point Arena as the Executive Petty Officer. Upon advancing to Chief Petty Officer he was assigned as the Officer in Charge of Coast Guard Station New Haven, in June 1990. Following a successful tour at New Haven, he was transferred to Station Sand Key in Clearwater Beach, Florida in 1994.
In 1997, Bowen was assigned as the Officer in Charge of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Point Turner in Newport, Rhode Island, until her decommissioning in April 1998. During May 1998 he was assigned as the Officer in Charge of Coast Guard Cutter Hammerhead, based in Woods Hole, Massachusetts; this cutter was first of the high-tech 87-foot (26.5 m) Patrol Boats on the east coast.
From 1999 to 2001, Bowen served as the Seventh District Command Master Chief. In May 2002, Bowen graduated with distinction from the United States Army Sergeants Major Academy. While at the Academy, he was selected as one of the few non-Army students ever to serve as a class vice president. Upon graduation, he was awarded the prestigious "William G. Bainbridge Chair of Ethics Award." From June 2002 to June 2004, Bowen served as the Command Master Chief of the Headquarters' Units. In addition to those duties, he also served as the Interim Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard from July 2002 through October 2002.
Read more about this topic: Charles W. Bowen
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