Tasha Bowman, a retired sergeant first class from Union City, signed up for service to the Tennessee Army National Guard when she was 17 and served more than 20 total years over two stints.
Bowman deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Inherent Resolve in 2014 and received the Combat Action Badge. She retired from military service in 2025.
Bowman shared her military experiences as the guest speaker at the University of Tennessee at Martin’s annual Veterans Day program Nov. 11 in Watkins Auditorium on the UT Martin campus.
In the program, Bowman spoke about how all servicepeople are more than just that. They are human beings with many personal duties, thoughts and emotions.
“We came from different places, had different reasons for joining and brought different experiences and opinions with us,” she said. “We didn’t look alike, believe alike or agree on everything, but we wanted to work together, to trust one another and to understand that the person sitting beside us mattered just as much as we did.”
Bowman said she had no idea when she enlisted at age 17 that it would take her so far.
“I didn’t realize the people that I would meet and the friendships I would make and the things I would experience,” she said. “I certainly didn’t know how military service would become such a large part of my life.”
Bowman served for eight years in her first stint, then at the age of 34, she rejoined the Guard.
“When someone joins the military, their family doesn’t get a uniform, they don’t receive orders and they don’t give an oath, but their lives change right along with ours,” she said. “There is a mother who remembers the day her child left for basic training. She tried to be strong and tried not to cry, maybe waiting until the car pulled away before she fell apart. There is a father who watched his child leave and wondered if he had done enough to prepare them for the world. There is a spouse at home who had to handle everything at home because there wasn’t anyone else to do it.”
Five years after enlisting in the Tennessee Army National Guard for her first stint, Bowman decided to go back to school, receiving her master’s degree in family and consumer sciences from UT Martin in 2009. She currently works as a dispatcher for the Union City Police Department.
“I eventually learned that I could afford to go to college with the military’s help,” she said. “It really did make a difference.”
Her military experience goes beyond duty, training and service. Earlier this year, she was a semifinalist in Ms. Veteran America, a national competition that recognizes women veterans who continue to serve through advocacy, leadership and community engagement during and after military service.
She used the platform to raise awareness and support for Final Salute Inc., whose mission is to provide safe and suitable housing and services for homeless women veterans and their children.
Bowman currently runs a Facebook page, “The Stories We Carry – With Tasha Bowman,” dedicated to telling stories of veterans. She said that veterans can send their stories to her through the page.
PHOTO: Tasha Bowman, who served more than 20 years in the Tennessee Army National Guard and deployed to Iraq, speaks at the annual UT Martin Veterans Day program Nov. 11.
