ANCHORS AWEIGH… RETIRED NAVAL OFFICER SAILS INTO NEW ASSIGNMENT WITH SOUTH CAROLINA MILITARY DEPARTMENT

COLUMBIA, S.C. – On Saturday, September 15, 2012, Charles R.B. Stowe, Director of Outreach Initiatives and Professor of Management at Lander University, was commissioned as a Colonel in the South Carolina Military Department Joint Services Detachment at ceremonies conducted at the Headquarters of the South Carolina National Guard.  Major General John B. Grimball, Commander of the SCMD JSD, swore Stowe into the South Carolina Military Department and presented him with a commission signed by Governor Nikki Haley.  Stowe is assigned to the Joint Services Detachment where he will serve in the Governmental Affairs Directorate under Brigadier General John L. Scott who also serves as a South Carolina State Senator. Stowe will also serve as JSD’s liaison to the South Carolina Emergency Management Division.  

“We are most pleased to welcome Colonel Stowe into the JSD,” said MG Grimball. “JSD will greatly benefit from Colonel Stowe’s wealth of experience and enthusiasm. His professionalism and expertise will add value to our efforts as we continue to educate and inform the public as to the vital role performed by the military.”

"I am very excited to join an organization with such a noble mission as supporting the activities of the South Carolina Military Department and the state's Emergency Management Department, said Colonel Stowe.  “As we have seen from Super Storm Sandy, there are times when the military can undue nature's damage and bring people together.  I am looking forward to sharing this experience with my 13 year old son so that regardless of his career, he will always fully support our military active and reserve and respect those who volunteer to help fellow Americans preserve their freedom and safety."

After graduating from Vanderbilt University, where he served as a battalion commander and received a NROTC commission, Stowe served thirty years as a Navy Public Affairs Officer.  Stowe’s first duty was Public Affairs Officer to the Commander Training Command, US Pacific Fleet with special assignments as PAO for the naval task force responsible for recovering Apollo 17, America’s last astronauts to the moon, and as naval historian for the return of US POWs from Vietnam. 

After spending his last two years of active duty as Media Liaison Officer at the Dallas Navy Office of Information, Stowe spent 27 years in the Navy Reserve, during which time he was recalled to active duty three times: in 1994 to serve as Senior US Military Adviser to the National Security Adviser to the President of Poland, and in 1997 as Public Affairs Officer at the George C. Marshall Center in Germany, and finally as Military War Game Analyst and Writer for ‘Elder Brave,’ where he co-designed a 3-4 day emergency management program for 22 flag officers in the Pacific. Stowe was extended to serve during the 50^th anniversary of VJ Day as a translator for President Clinton and French ambassadors. Additionally, Stowe served as speechwriter to senior Navy officials including two Secretaries of the Navy, the Chief of Naval Operations and other senior officials, as well as serving in the Office of the Navy Chief of Information, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and other naval staffs.

Stowe served as Commanding Officer of the Navy’s Hollywood Liaison Office – Navy Office of Information, Los Angeles, as Commanding Officer of the Office of Information Detachment in Houston and Denver, and as Senior Adviser to the Commander, Navy Recruiting Command. 

Among his military awards are the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Service Medal, Navy Commendation Award, three meritorious unit citations and one joint services unit citation. 

In addition to 15 years in venture capital, Stowe became the first American to earn a Ph. D from Warsaw University in Poland. He also earned a law degree from University of Houston Law Center, an MBA from University of Dallas and taught at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas for 27 years. 

Stowe is a licensed attorney and member of the State Bar of Texas.  He joined Lander University in August 2008 to serve as Dean of the College of Business and Public Affairs before accepting his current position as Director of Outreach Initiatives.  Stowe teaches management, organizational behavior, as well as courses in entrepreneurship and small business management. 

He and his wife Laura have a son Charlie, an eighth grader, who attends a Magnet ACTS program and is quite active in the Greenwood Community Theater.

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For more information:

LTC Angela C. Stringer
SC JSD Public Information Officer
astringer_pio@yahoo.com