Charles W. Bowen | |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | "Skip" |
Allegiance | United States of America |
Service/ | United States Coast Guard |
Years of service | 1978–2010 |
Rank | Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard |
Awards | Coast Guard Distinguished Service Medal Meritorious Service Medal (4 awards) Coast Guard Commendation Medal (4 awards) Coast Guard Achievement Medal (3 awards) |
Charles W. "Skip" Bowen was the tenth Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard (MCPOCG). [1] He assumed the position from MCPOCG Frank A. Welch on June 14, 2006, and was relieved on May 21, 2010, by Michael P. Leavitt. Bowen was previously assigned as the Officer-in-Charge of Coast Guard Station Marathon.
U. S. Army Sergeants Major Academy | |
BSc | Excelsior College |
MBA | Touro University International |
Project Management Institute |
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 travelled 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 USCGC Point Turner in Newport, Rhode Island, until her decommissioning in April 1998. During May 1998 he was assigned as the Officer-in-Charge of USCGC Hammerhead, based in Woods Hole, Massachusetts; this cutter was the 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 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 served as the Interim Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard from July 2002 through October 2002.
Bowen's educational accomplishments include a Bachelor of Science Degree magna cum laude from Excelsior College and a Master of Business Administration summa cum laude from Touro University International. Bowen is married to Janet Kay Bowen (née Cartwright) of Norfolk, Virginia. He has four children, Mason, Joshua, Joseph, and Kristen. His son, Mason, is currently on active duty in the Coast Guard.
In April 2011, Bowen went to work at Bollinger Shipyards, in Lockport, Louisiana. [2] [3] Bowen's first position at Bollinger was to manage the Sentinel building program.
In August 2012 Bowen was promoted to vice president for Government Relations. [2]
The Sentinel-class cutter, also known as Fast Response Cutter due to its program name, is part of the United States Coast Guard's Deepwater program. At 154 feet (46.8 m) it is similar to, but larger than the 123-foot (37 m) lengthened 1980s-era Island-class patrol boats that it replaces. Up to 58 vessels are to be built by the Louisiana-based firm Bollinger Shipyards, using a design from the Netherlands-based Damen Group, with the Sentinel design based on the company's Damen Stan 4708 patrol vessel. The Department of Homeland Security's budget proposal to Congress, for the Coast Guard, for 2021, stated that, in addition to 58 vessels to serve the Continental US, they requested an additional six vessels for its portion of Patrol Forces South West Asia.
Michael Phillip Leavitt was the eleventh Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard (MCPOCG). He assumed the position from MCPOCG Charles W. Bowen on May 21, 2010 and was relieved on May 22, 2014, by Steven W. Cantrell. Leavitt was previously serving as the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Deputy Commandant for Operations at Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington, DC.
USCGC Charles David Jr is the seventh Sentinel-class cutter. Upon her commissioning she was assigned to serve in Key West, Florida, the first of six vessels to be based there. She was delivered to the Coast Guard, for testing, on August 17, 2013. She was officially commissioned on November 16, 2013.
USCGC Kathleen Moore is the ninth Sentinel-class cutter by Bollinger shipyards delivered to the United States Coast Guard. She was delivered to the Coast Guard, for pre-commissioning testing, on 28 March 2014.
Heriberto S. "Ed" Hernandez (1948–1968) was a fireman in the United States Coast Guard.
Winslow W. Griesser (1856–1931) was a station keeper in the United States Life-Saving Service, one of the agencies that were merged to form the United States Coast Guard. In 2016 the Coast Guard honored him by naming one of its new Sentinel-class cutters after him.
Rollin Arnold Fritch was a United States Coast Guard seaman who died at his weapons station while shooting at a Japanese kamikaze, during World War II.
Lawrence Oscar Lawson was a station keeper in the United States Life-Saving Service. He was given command of the Evanston, Illinois, Life–Saving Station Number 12, District 11 of the United States Life-Saving Service off the coast of Lake Michigan in 1880.
USCGC Lawrence Lawson is the 20th Sentinel-class cutter to be delivered to the United States Coast Guard. She was built at Bollinger Shipyards, in Lockport, Louisiana, and delivered to the Coast Guard, for her sea trials, on October 20, 2016. She was commissioned on March 18, 2017. She is the second cutter of her class to be the homeported at the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, New Jersey, and also the second to be stationed outside of the Caribbean.
USCGC Rollin Fritch is the US Coast Guard's 19th Sentinel-class cutter, and the first to be homeported outside of the Caribbean. She is based at the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, New Jersey.
USCGC John McCormick (WPC-1121) is the United States Coast Guard's 21st Sentinel-class cutter, and the first to be stationed in Alaska, where homeported at Coast Guard Base Ketchikan.
USCGC Bailey Barco (WPC-1122) is the United States Coast Guard's 22nd Sentinel-class cutter, and the second to be stationed in Alaska, where she was homeported at Coast Guard Base Ketchikan.
USCGC Benjamin Dailey (WPC-1123) is the United States Coast Guard's 23rd Sentinel-class cutter. She is the first cutter of her class stationed in the Coast Guard's Eight District, with a homeport in Pascagoula, MS.
Jacob Poroo was a medic for the United States Coast Guard who died of burns suffered when fire struck the remote Alaskan base he was assigned to.
Benjamin Bottoms (1913-1942) was a United States Coast Guardsman who died while attempting to rescue the crew of a USAAF bomber that had crashed-landed in Greenland in November 1942. Bottoms was the radioman of the USCGC Northland's Grumman J2F-4 Duck floatplane. When a B-17 bomber crash landed near Northland his aircraft was assigned to search for it. Bottoms's pilot Lieutenant John A. Pritchard sighted the bomber, and landed as close to the wreck as possible—four miles away. Pritchard and Bottoms were able to assist two of the injured bomber crew to their plane, and take them back to Northland. However, on their second rescue visit they encountered bad weather, and crashed. It took seventy-five years to locate their bodies.
John F. McCormick was a sailor in the United States Coast Guard who was recognized for his courage. McCormick was born in Portland, Oregon, and served much of his 26 year Coast Guard career in Oregon. After his 1947 retirement, he made his home in Garibaldi, Oregon; he lived there for another 39 years.
USCGC Harold Miller (WPC-1138) is the United States Coast Guard's 38th Sentinel-class cutter.
USCGC Myrtle Hazard (WPC-1139) is the United States Coast Guard's 39th Sentinel-class cutter.
USCGC Angela McShan (WPC-1135) is the United States Coast Guard's 35th Sentinel-class cutter.
USCGC Charles Moulthrope (WPC-1141) is the United States Coast Guard's 41st Sentinel-class cutter, and the first of six to be homeported in Manama, Bahrain.
Master Chief Charles W. "Skip" Bowen was the tenth Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard.
Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. announces the appointment of Charles "Skip" Bowen as Vice President Government Relations.
Lockport, La…., Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. announces the appointment of Charles "Skip" Bowen as Program Manager for the FRC "Sentinel” Class Patrol Boat building program at Bollinger’s Lockport facility.
Media related to Charles W. Bowen at Wikimedia Commons