Archibald Bowman (D5)

 Archibald 'Firefly' Bowman is a main character in the story 'The Devil You Know' which is set during the First Cylon War. A twelve year old version of the character appears in the Global Defense Series of short stories. He is the son of Emma and Jack Bowman. He is the grandfather of Artimus Bowman.

Early Life
Archibald was born in Caprica City seventy years before the fall of the colonies. There he met and fell in love with Claire Steiner and the two eventually married. They had one child, a son named Steven before the First Cylon War started.

Military Career
Archibald was training to be a shuttle pilot when the war broke out. He joined the Caprican Defense Forces and was soon flying an RS-18 Rapere. He continued to fly this craft after the signing of the Articles of Colonization and the amalgamation of the armed forces into the Colonial Fleet.He earned his callsign when he had been on Caprica for Raptor training in the newly formed Colonial Fleet. During one mission some Tylium had spilled onto the runway and the spilt fuel accidentally lit during takeoff, giving the appearance of the Raptor leaving a trail of fire while flying off into the air.

After being shot down over Caprica's Northern Pole he was so humbled by the efforts of the search and rescue team to retrieve him that he volunteered to join their ranks flying a CSAR Raptor. It was while undertaking these duties that he met Lieutenant Vincent 'Govie' Zeresi. The two of them became an outstanding team within the CSAR force.

Some time after the end of the Cylon War Archibald Bowman retired from the Colonial Fleet with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Nine years BTF he was inducted as a member of the Colonial Fleet Aviation Hall of Fame at the request of Fleet Admiral Jonas Ingram Stryker.

Personal Life
The war proved to have an unfortunate side effect on his family life. With no father figure around Steven Bowman become a troubled child who resented his 'hero' father. As such Steven would often rebel to the point where he got his sixteen year old girlfriend, Eliza Vandermevre, pregnant. After the war Archibald tried to reconcile things with his son but all efforts failed and they became quite hostile towards one another. The situation became worse when his grandson, Artimus Bowman, left his home with Steven and Eliza following revelations of Steven having an affair and occasionally being violent towards Eliza. Archibald raised Artimus the way he had always intended to raise Steven and the two of them were more like Father and Son than Grandfather.

When Artimus chose to follow in his grandfather's footsteps and become a Raptor pilot Archibald was pleased but he wanted his grandson to know what he might face should war ever come again. Therefore he allowed Artimus to read his journals that he kept during the conflict, something not even his wife had done. Archibald was immensely proud of Artimus's career but sadly he would not live to see him command the Battlestar Hermes BSG-58.

Death
Archibald Bowman suffered from a degenerative brain disease later on in life. After a valiant battle with the disease he finally died three years before 'The fall' while Artimus was the XO of the Battlestar Cerberus. Much of the specialist care he required in the last few years was provided for by Scott Tolan who gave a eulogy at his funeral.