Charles W. "Skip" Bowen was the tenth Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard (MCPOCG).

A subsequent assignment at Station Fort Pierce, Florida, was followed by another patrol boat, this time the newly commissioned USCGC Farallon, homeported in Miami.

From south Florida, he travelled to the Mid-Atlantic seaboard to join USCGC Point Arena as the Executive Petty Officer.

During May 1998 he was assigned as the Officer-in-Charge of USCGC Hammerhead, based in Woods Hole, Massachusetts; this cutter was the first of the high-tech 87-foot (27 m) patrol boats on the east coast.

In addition to those duties, he served as the Interim Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard from July 2002 through October 2002.