Joseph Bowman

Chief Petty Officer Joseph Bowman was a SOG operative who appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops. He was Woods' right-hand man. He appears in almost every mission played by Mason up until Payback, in which he is killed by a Spetsnaz Operative. He is voiced by and likened to Ice Cube.
==Biography==
===Early life===
Not much is known about Bowman's early life, other than the fact that he was born on November 10, 1940, in Atlanta, Georgia. His father was a World War II veteran, as he was his influence for enlisting in the Navy at the young age of 17. Bowman also attended Underwater Demolition Team school as a part of his training.
===Operation 40===
Bowman fought alongside Alex Mason and Frank Woods during "Operation 40". During the planning phase, he met up with Carlos in a bar before having to fight through a police raid. Later, he infiltrated the compound of Fidel Castro. He separated from Mason and Woods after the initial assault, rejoining them after Castro's double is killed. He escaped Cuba on a transport plane after Mason jumped off to destroy the vehicles blocking the runway, allowing the plane safe passage.
===Baikonur===
Years later, Bowman again fought alongside Mason and Woods in Baikonur to sabotage the Russian Soyuz launch. He infiltrated the facility with Terrance Brooks and joined with the other operatives. Disguised as a Russian soldier, Bowman led a pair of guards away from the comm tower to dispatch them, allowing Woods and Mason to storm the tower. Bowman and Brooks proceeded to rescue Grigori Weaver, who had been captured by Lev Kravchenko. The operatives moved to the Soyuz launch platform to destroy the rocket. During their escape, Bowman presumably assisted Mason in the attempted assassination of Nikita Dragovich, but they were unable to confirm the kill after destroying his limousine.
===Vietnam===
In 1968, Bowman was deployed to Vietnam as part of the Studies and Observations Group. He again met up with Woods and Mason after a battle at Khe Sanh and assisted Mason during the Tet Offensive at Hue City, establishing contact with a Russian defector and helping Mason out of trouble. Bowman took part in a clean-and-sweep operation to root out local Viet Cong. During the Laos incursion, Bowman rode shotgun on Mason's boat, using a Grim Reaper to destroy numerous enemy positions on the river. He located the wreck of a Russian cargo plane, but found nothing other than a map and a China Lake grenade launcher. He helped defend the plane when Russian Spetsnaz tried to recapture the site, and was captured and given to the Viet Cong.
===Death===
Bowman was held captive for about a week. During this time, Mason relates that, as a result of the torture and sleep deprivation, Bowman had "given up". Bowman was forced to play Russian roulette by the VC Bookie, but instead he angered the Russian interrogator, sparking him to beat him to death with a pipe. When Mason and Woods escaped, they avenged Bowman's death by killing the Russian while he was trying to flee. However, he was not officially known to have died until after Mason's capture at Rebirth Island.
=== Legacy ===
Bowman is survived by his fiancée, Angela, who had a son with him named William. William, through his investigation of Perseus, would eventually lead him to meeting Bruce Harris, Bowman's former colleague who survived the events of Yamantau. Harris, who was mistakenly captured by William and thought to be Perseus, gave William a bag containing Bowman's belongings.
==Gallery==
Bowman Mantle BO.png|Early appearance of Bowman
Carlos, Bowman, and Woods, Operation 40 intro.jpg|Bowman, Frank Woods, Carlos and Alex Mason in "Operation 40"
Bowman Grim Reaper.jpg|Bowman holding a Grim Reaper in "Crash Site"
Spetsnaz Operative holding Bowman.jpg|The Spetsnaz Operative holding Bowman's dead body
Bowman's Corpse.jpg|Bowman's dead body
Bowman full body shot wielding Ak47 Executive Order.JPG|Bowman disguised as a Russian soldier in "Executive Order"
Woods and Bowman S.O.G. BO.jpg|Woods and Bowman meet again in "S.O.G."
Bowman Dragunov BO.jpg|Bowman using a Dragunov
Extraction Victor Charlie BO.png|Bowman with Woods on a UH-1
==Trivia==
*In the Eminem trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops, Bowman was clean shaven, had a much lighter skin tone and slightly more hair.
*In the mission "Victor Charlie", when Woods and Mason meet up with Bowman for the first time in the level, the player can notice upon closer inspection of Bowman that he has white hands, despite being dark skinned.
*He is the announcer for the SOG in multiplayer.
* Bowman is multilingual. In Executive Order, he speaks to the Soviet soldiers in Russian to get them out the way of a door before killing them with Brooks. Bowman also seems to understand Vietnamese, because in The Defector, Woods asks Bowman what the NVA loudspeaker is saying and Bowman translates it into "Kill the civilians". The in-game intel notes that Bowman is also fluent in Spanish.
* Bowman's dead body can only be found in the PlayStation 3 and PC versions of the game.
*In the mission "Victor Charlie", the player could notice that on Bowman's uniform, the service branch is visibly noticeable, which says "US A", suggesting US Army, despite him being from the US Navy.
*He shares a birthday with Weaver.
==References==
pl:Joseph Bowman
sv:Joseph Bowman
Category:Call of Duty: Black Ops Studies and Observations Group Characters
Category:Call of Duty: Black Ops Central Intelligence Agency Characters