Summary
OTC's Outstanding Student Veteran Daniel Bowles did two tours of duty in Afghanistan and is pursuing a bachelor's of respiratory therapy.
Photo caption: OTC Trustee J. Howard Fisk (right) presents Daniel Bowles with the Outstanding OTC Student Veteran Award.
The Ozarks Technical Community College Outstanding Student Veteran is a self-described “military brat.”
Daniel Bowles was born in Germany and bounced between Georgia and Tennessee during his father’s Army career. After he graduated from high school in 2008, Daniel followed in his dad’s footsteps and joined the Army as a medic.
Daniel was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 as a front-line medic with a cavalry scout unit, where he was involved in combat operations as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Despite seeing heavy action during his deployment, Daniel left Afghanistan physically unharmed.
Following Afghanistan, Daniel managed several Army clinics in Hawaii. Then, he attended medical advisor training in Fort Benning, Ga., in 2017 and was deployed to Afghanistan again. During his second tour of duty, Daniel linked with Afghan forces. On this assignment, he taught the Afghani medical personnel new techniques and planned for their medical needs based on their planned combat operations.
When he returned to the United States, Daniel was stationed at Fort Riley in Kansas and volunteered for a recruiting assignment in Springfield. When OTC debuted its Bachelor of Respiratory Therapy, Daniel was in the first class of students.
When Daniel graduates in May of 2024, he will be in the first class of OTC students to earn a bachelor’s degree. He plans to continue his career as a respiratory therapist when he retires from his two-decade Army career in 2028.
