Joseph Bowman

Chief Petty Officer Joseph Bowman was a SOG operative who appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops. He was Woods' right-hand man. He appears in almost every mission played by Mason up until Payback, in which he is killed. He is voiced by O'Shea Jackson, better known as "Ice Cube." Bowman (and by extension, Ice Cube) also voices the announcer for the SOG in multiplayer.

Biography
According to his dossier, Bowman was a Navy SEAL. His father served in the Second World War and his family had a history of asthma. A little known fact, he also goes by "The Chocolate Beast".

Bowman fought alongside Alex Mason and Frank Woods during "Operation 40". During the planning phase, he met up with Carlos in a bar before having to fight through a police raid. Later, he infiltrated the compound of Fidel Castro. He separated from Mason and Woods after the initial assault, rejoining them after Castro's double is killed. He escaped Cuba on a transport plane after Mason jumped off to destroy the vehicles blocking the runway.

Years later, Bowman again fought alongside Mason and Woods in Baikonur to sabotage the Russian Soyuz launch. He infiltrated the facility with Brooks and joined with the other operatives. Disguised as a Russian soldier, Bowman led a pair of guards away from the comm tower to dispatch them, allowing Woods and Mason to storm the tower. Bowman and Brooks proceeded to rescue Weaver, who had been captured by Kravchenko. The operatives moved to the Soyuz launch platform to destroy the rocket. During their escape, Bowman presumably assisted Mason in the attempted assassination of Dragovich, but they were unable to confirm the kill after destroying his limousine.

In 1968, Bowman was deployed to Vietnam as part of the Studies and Observations Group. He again met up with Woods and Mason after a battle at Khe Sanh and assisted Mason during the Tet Offensive at Hue City, establishing contact with a Russian defector and helping Mason out of trouble. Bowman took part in a clean-and-sweep operation to root out local Viet Cong. During the Laos incursion, Bowman rode shotgun on Mason's boat, using a Grim Reaper to destroy numerous enemy positions on the river. He located the wreck of a Russian cargo plane, but found nothing other than a map and a China Lake grenade launcher. He helped defend the plane when Russian Spetsnaz tried to recapture the site, and was captured and given to the Viet Cong.

Bowman was held captive for a period of time. During "Payback", Mason relates that Bowman had "given up". Bowman was forced to play Russian roulette by the VC Bookie, but instead he angered the Russian interrogator, sparking him to beat him to death with a pipe. When Mason and Woods escaped, they avenged Bowman's death by killing the Russian while he was trying to flee.

Trivia

 * His face bears similarity to Ice Cube, his own voice contributor. Ice Cube also previously played a Navy SEAL in the action movie xXx: State of the Union.
 * Throughout the entire Black Ops campaign, Bowman is the only African American soldier. This is not necessarily true on the Wii, however; in the beginning of Victor Charlie, Davis has dark skin and could be African-American as well.
 * In the mission "Victor Charlie" when Woods and Mason meet up with Bowman for the first time in the level, the player can notice, upon closer inspection of Bowman, that despite he is African American he has white hands. This is probably due to him being based off another character model.
 * In earlier trailers, it appears Bowman was going to be Caucasian as he looks paler than he appears in-game.
 * Bowman appears to be multilingual because in Executive Order, he speaks to the Soviet soldiers in Russian to get them out the way of a door before killing them with Brooks. Bowman also seems to understand Vietnamese, because in The Defector, Woods asks Bowman what the NVA loudspeaker are saying and Bowman translated it into "Kill the civilians". The in-game intel notes that Bowman is fluent in Russian. He says "We have a problem, follow me" in Executive Order.
 * If the player shoots him, he will say, "Next time will be your last!"

Quotes

 * "You don't scare me, Communist piece of Shit!" - Bowman's last words
 * "FUCK, YOU! CHARLIE!" Bowman to the VC Bookie
 * "We almost got this! Push Harder!" Bowman as the Announcer for the SOG in Multiplayer
 * "You look like hammered shit, Mason!" Bowman to Mason at Khe Sanh
 * "Mason, use the M202!" While pinned down by Vietcong forces urging Mason to take out an AA emplacement.