Tom Bowman
Tom Bowman is a NPR National Desk reporter covering the Pentagon.
In his current role, Bowman has traveled to Syria as well as Iraq and Afghanistan often for month-long visits and embedded with U.S. Marines and soldiers.
Before coming to NPR in April 2006, Bowman spent nine years as a Pentagon reporter at The Baltimore Sun. Altogether he was at The Sun for nearly two decades, covering the Maryland Statehouse, the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Naval Academy, and the National Security Agency (NSA). His coverage of racial and gender discrimination at NSA led to a Pentagon investigation in 1994.
Initially Bowman imagined his career path would take him into academia as a history, government, or journalism professor. During college Bowman worked as a stringer at The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, Mass. He also worked for the Daily Transcript in Dedham, Mass., and then as a reporter at States News Service, writing for the Miami Herald and the Anniston (Ala.) Star.
Bowman is a co-winner of a 2006 National Headliners' Award for stories on the lack of advanced tourniquets for U.S. troops in Iraq. In 2010, he received an Edward R. Murrow Award for his coverage of a Taliban roadside bomb attack on an Army unit.
Bowman earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from St. Michael's College in Winooski, Vermont, and a master's degree in American Studies from Boston College.
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Some 4,000 National Guard soldiers are the first to return to large-scale training at Fort Irwin, Calif., since the pandemic hit in March. Generals say the troops are regularly monitored for symptoms.
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Mustafa Ugurlu who was charged with staging a July, 2016 coup but denied any involvement, says while his family has been embraced in Norfolk, Va., he fears the Turkish state will track him down.
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Gen. John Hyten says it's "absolutely not right" that the incoming Air Force chief of staff will be the first African American to sit on the Joint Chiefs since Colin Powell, nearly three decades ago.
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More than 700 military health professionals are being sent to southern and western states where cases have skyrocketed, military officials say.
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Gen. Mark Milley's recent apology for walking with President Trump to his church photo op has prompted discussion about how the military maintains nonpartisanship under a Trump administration.
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Four shipyards are getting the extra help. Officials say, if left unchecked, aircraft and submarine maintenance backlogs would result in delays in returning ships to the fleet.
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General Mark Milley, a top military official, has apologized for participating in President Trump's walk to St. John's Church near the White House, after law enforcement forcibly cleared protesters.
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Many U.S. military bases in the South are named after Confederate officers. Now protests over treatment of African Americans are prompting a new call to change those names.
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Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says President Trump is a threat to the constitution, The Atlantic reports. Others have also spoken out about the White House's handling of nationwide unrest.
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The Army plans to resume large-scale combat training in the Mojave Desert in a few weeks, after a three-month hiatus. A recent simulation showed just how that will work with the coronavirus spread.
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The U.S. Army is adapting its recruiting amid the coronavirus, cutting the number of people in recruiting stations and moving much of its pitching online.
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A key NCAA panel has cleared the way for college athletes to be paid. Once approved, athletes could get sponsorship and endorsement deals but would not get money from their universities or colleges.