- AF Master Sgt. Sarah Webb
Army Staff Sgt. Jerry Bowling, an NCO-in-charge of 3rd Plt, D Co, 1st Bn, 121st Inf Regt, 48th IBCT, a police mentoring team at FOB Vulcan, salutes during an awards ceremony held on FOB Vulcan, Dec. 26, 2009
GHAZNI PROVINCE – “Can you put your head on your pillow and know that you’re respected? Did you offend anyone today, and for what reason?” These are the questions that Staff Sgt. Jerry Bowling asks his Soldiers after each mission.
This Soldier-turned Airman-turned-Soldier is highly respected by the men who work for him, and those he works for. “Loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage – Staff Sgt. Bowling is the personification of the Army Values,” boasted Bowling’s Plt leader, Army 1st. Lt. David Esra, Qara Bagh/Waghez Police Mentoring Team chief assigned to FOB Vulcan's Combined Action Unit. “He's continually proven himself to be an exceptional Soldier and leader. Not once has he sought to meet his own needs before each of his Soldiers’ needs were met.”
Since being in Afghanistan, Bowling has been in multiple IED blasts, and multiple battles, where he exposed himself to enemy fire in order to break-up an enemy attack. He's also responded to incidents where he utilized his paramedic skills, under enemy fire, on civilian causalities on the battlefield.
“I'm only what I am, and who I am because of one person in my life. I’m a reflection of somebody. Who I am, somebody made me,” said Bowling, as he described growing up under the influence of his grandmother. “She’s the one that instilled my morality and my humanitarianism. She was my best friend.”
A series of events led him to join the Army in 1989, at 25. After fulfilling his first enlistment commitment, he got out of the Army and went to school to be a paramedic. “My goal was to go to nursing school in the Army. I got out to save a marriage that was failing. I tried to save it, but it didn’t happen,” said Bowling.
Ten years later, at 35, he joined the AF Reserves as a firefighter. “My transition from green to blue was seamless,” said Bowling. “However, my Army mentality versus my AF mentality was a bit of a problem. I had to learn to relax. The rank structure and the responsibility for an E-6 is not the same in the AF as it is in the Army. The AF is more career-minded, where the Army is leadership driven.”
In October 2004, Bowling saw in the local newspaper that the Georgia NG was preparing to deploy. He knew he wanted to go with them, so he traded in his AF blue to return to his roots of Army green. When asked how he dealt with the transition from blue back to green, he gave the standard Army answer of “too easy.”
“Here in the Army my job is to lead. More than that, it’s to mentor and train the guys to take my place. It’s all about the young guys coming up,” said Bowling. “It’s all part of the cycle.” After serving in Baghdad, he stayed on active duty to be an urban warfare instructor as part of Op Warrior Trainer, a program where returning personnel train current tactics, techniques, and procedures to the soldiers preparing to deploy.
Bowling has also served as a civilian contractor, as an asst fire chief in various areas of SW Asia. Upon returning to the states, he moved from Atlanta to Northern Idaho, leaving behind his career as a firefighter to go back to emergency medical services. “It’s hard to say, but painfully true,” he explained. “I left the leadership position because I’m not a bureaucratic administrative type of person. I can do it, but the joy for me is being involved with the people. I like to mentor others to rise. I get more success, and I feel better about myself when I help someone else lift themselves up.”
In March 2008, Bowling heard that the Guard unit was deploying to Afghanistan. "I got an email from the 1st Sgt., who was in my company in Iraq, saying that they could really use some help, that they needed my style of leadership. One day I woke up and said to myself, ‘Hey, what am I doing? I know those guys that are over there need me.’ So I called the 1st Sgt. and asked him if he needed my help. He responded with, ‘I was wondering when you were going to call’”.
Since being deployed to Afghanistan as a plt sgt, Bowling has led his team of 30 Soldiers, who range in age from 19 to 57. “I’m very proud to be in this unit,” said Bowling. While discussing being in the leadership role, Bowling quickly explained that there is no greater honor. “You're responsible for someone’s son or daughter. I have some 22- and 24-year-olds that are married with kids. I’m taking care of someone’s husband and dad. The moms and dads don’t know who has their son, but the son knows who’s keeping him in check. There’s not a greater honor in the world. That’s why I’m here. It’s not about pulling the trigger and shooting the bad guy. I’d like to say that maybe when I was 25, and first joined the Army, that’s what I was all about. However, with the maturity of life over the course of the military, and what it’s done for me, shows there's just so much more to it than that. If you ask any of my soldiers what my 2 main priorities are, they’ll tell you it’s safety and security. They’re parallel with each other. They're first, last, and always.”
Although Bowling is an E-6, he has excelled at taking on the roles and responsibilities of the E-7 position he is assigned to. “The higher in rank you get, the farther you get from the men. I belong with the men. I would not ask them to do something that I wouldn’t do myself.”
Proving true to his words, in September 2009, Bowling successfully led his Soldiers during an 8-hour firefight where 5 insurgents were killed and 6 were captured. During this engagement, Bowling placed himself in harm’s way by exposing himself to heavy enemy fire to clear a wood line and kalat wall. He then led 3 Soldiers on foot to clear one thousand meters of rough terrain while under enemy fire.
Currently, Bowling has 20 years of total active federal military service. When asked if he will retire, he replied that he'll stay in the NG, but wants to return to nursing school. “I’d just started nursing school around 9/11,” recalled Bowling. “I got deployed, and never finished. It’s been 9 years and I keep kicking myself in the butt for not finishing.” When asked if asked if he'd stop school and deploy again, he quickly responded “Yes.”
