In 2023, Bowman co-hosted NPR Embedded podcast Taking Cover, investigating a U.S. Marine friendly fire incident in Fallujah, Iraq, a finalist for the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award.

[6][7] Bowman presently lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife Brigid Schulte, an author and former Washington Post reporter, and their children, Liam and Tessa.

Bowman received the 2006 National Headliners' Award for his coverage on the lack of advanced tourniquets for U.S. troops in Iraq.

[8] In 2010, he received an Edward R. Murrow Award for his coverage of a Taliban roadside bomb attack on an Army unit.

[9] In 2024, Bowman received a Murrow Award in Investigative Reporting for NPR podcast Taking Cover.