Master Sgt. Jamal H. Bowers: Life lived for God and country
Father and son — Master Sgt. Jamal Bowers (right) took part in an airborne operation in June 2010 with his son, Pfc. Jamal Bowers II, who is also an Army special operations soldier. Photo provided
Master Sgt. Jamal Bowers, a decorated soldier and Marine who served more than 20 years on deployments that spanned the globe, died March 18 in a medical-related incident.
The 41-year-old native of Newark, N.J. spent the last decade with the U.S. Army Special Operations Command based out of Fort Bragg, N.C. He joined the Marine Corps in 1987 and switched to The Army Reserve in 1993. Six years later he transitioned to active duty.
He had been finishing up a bachelor of science in multidisciplinary studies from Liberty University Online while deployed to Camp Lemonier, Djibouti along the Somalia border.
Jamal Bowers’ wife, Kawana Bowers, said he wanted to become a teacher when he retired.
“After he finished his degree, he was going to get his masters degree and then doctorate degree in psychology,” she said. “He wanted to actually teach history at Harvest Preparatory Academy, which is our church, in Fayetteville, N.C.”
Jamal Bowers chose Liberty for its foundational Christian beliefs.
“He decided he wanted to go to Liberty because he wanted a school that was based on religion and not just (offering) classes in religion — a school that was founded on Christian beliefs,” Kawana Bowers said. “A lot of schools offer classes in religion, but they’re not actually founded on Christianity.”
Planning to retire on September 24, 2015, Jamal Bowers had currently been stationed overseas as part of Operation Enduring Freedom — Horn of Africa under the military’s Africa Command (AFRICOM). He was part of Company A, 6th Military Information Support Battalion (Airborne), 4th Psychological Operations Group. While not on a deployment, Jamal Bowers was an instructor at the Psychological Operations Qualification Course at the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.
Jamal Bowers’ deployments included two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. Among his numerous decorations, he was awarded the Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal and Navy Achievement Medal for Valor. The latter was cited for “tactical skills and courage under fire” while counterattacking an enemy ambush in Fallujah, Iraq and leading three wounded Marines to safety. The Department of Defense held a special dinner in honor of Jamal Bowers and 10 other African American veterans in February 2008.
As a special operations soldier, Jamal Bowers’ actions were classified, and the stress strained his family relationships.
“Only a small group of women are chosen by God to be married to the soldiers that we’re married to — it is a sacrifice, and you cannot do it without God,” Kawana Bowers said. “They have the highest divorce rate in the military because of what they do, and the stress of the job will sometimes follow them home.”
Kawana Bowers intends to go out and speak to women in similar circumstances based on her Christian beliefs and experience as the spouse, and now gold star wife, of a special operations soldier.
She said most women “can’t handle the aggression and the lifestyle,” but need to realize that “it’s not personal.” The stress of the job, all the secrets the soldiers must keep, and the struggle to “separate everything from work and home” are tough to bear.
“Just be a good listener,” she said. “A lot of times I didn’t want to listen because I didn’t want to hear the horror stories, but in the end, I learned to listen because that was the only way he could get it out — even if he was talking about nothing, they just want you to listen.”
Kawana Bowers is available to speak with other military spouses and has been approached by women who want to know how she is able to be so strong in this situation.
“Because of my faith and because we’re in a good ministry, I’ve been taught well,” she said. “Most people don’t see how I’m dealing with what I’m dealing with, but I know that death is not necessarily the end, it’s the beginning.”
With all of her recent experiences, Kawana Bowers has learned the hard way many things she wish she had been told beforehand. She encourages women with questions, particularly military spouses, to message her on Facebook.
“There’s a lot of stuff you don’t know and a lot of stuff that he planned on doing before he left, but we never got around to it, that would’ve made a great difference now,” she said. “Just those small tips would help a lot.”
People have been asking how they can help, so the family set up an account for Jamal and Kawana Bowers’ grandchildren. Jamal Bowers loved his grandchildren so much that, in lieu of sending flowers to the house, the family asked that people make checks payable to Kawana Bowers so that she could put them in her grandchildren’s account — that way, Jamal Bowers could provide the inheritance that he wanted for his grandchildren.