Charles "Skip" W. Bowen

Charles W. Bowen
MCPOCG Charles "Skip" W. Bowen
Nickname(s)	"Skip"
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	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 "Skip" W. Bowen was the tenth Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard (MCPOCG). 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.

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 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 first of the high-tech 87-foot (26.5 m) patrol boats on the east coast.