Master Sgt. Jovan Bowser: Representation for all

By Whitney Delbridge Nichels, Warrior Care and TransitionJuly 18, 2017

Master Sgt. Jovan Bowser: Representation for all
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

CHICAGO -- Master Sgt. Jovan Bowser is a natural born leader - from the playing field to the battle field.

The Virginia native began participating in adaptive sports in 2016, but she's been an athlete most of her life.

A former professional football player with the National Women's Football League and member of Fort Bragg's basketball team, Bowser established herself as a fierce competitor early on.

"As a female athlete, you really have to earn your respect. I've never wanted any breaks. After you start blocking shots and scoring a lot of points, guys tend to stop giving you breaks anyway," she laughed.

But a number of injuries - some sports related and some caused by a car accident - eventually sent her to the bench.

"I had a knee injury, hip injury, torn ligaments in my hand," she said.

After aggravating another injury on deployment and later developing a thyroid disease, she landed in the Warrior Transition Battalion at Fort Bragg, N.C.

For many athletes, that would be enough cause for an early retirement, but not Bowser.

"'Quit' isn't in my vocabulary," she said. "Playing sports and being in the military, you learn to adapt and overcome. That's what I did with the help of my WTB."

It's that unbeatable spirit that also leads Bowser to be a voice within the Army's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer community.

"I don't hide who I am, I never have," she said.

Bowser married her wife, Shauntel, in 2013 and the couple is expecting twins (via intrauterine insemination) in December.

With 20 years in uniform, Bowser has served through the existence and abolishment of the Army's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, and she has watched the military make great strides towards acceptance for all.

"Sometimes there've been people who are uneducated," Bowser said. "When certain people say certain things - regardless of rank - it's my job to educate them and help them grow."

Through the years, young service members have taken Bowser as a role model - something she says she didn't expect.

"I don't look at myself as a figure head," Bowser said. "But it makes me feel honored. I think they gravitate to me because I understand what they may be going through and I'm able to give them advice."

And most of that advice is rooted in self-acceptance.

"I tell them, don't worry about what others think. Just do you. At the end of the day other people's opinions are just that -- opinions. As long as you're happy, that's all that matters."