CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – On this week’s episode of Clarksville’s Conversation, Katie Gambill and Charlie Koon spoke with retired Brig. Gen. Scott E. Brower.

Brower is a former deputy commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).

In September of last year, joined Austin Peay State University’s senior leadership team as the institution’s first military adviser in residence. In this role, Brower advises the APSU leadership team on how the university can better serve its military students. He also helps APSU optimize the process of recruiting, enrolling, and graduating military-connected students.

“This community, this village helped raised my children,” Brower said. “So now this is a chance for me and Jen (Brower’s wife) to come back here and to give back to this community a little bit.”

Brower graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1989. Following an initial assignment in Air Defense Artillery, he spent the vast majority of his career in Special Forces with three tours of duty at Fort Campbell with the 5th Special Forces Group, culminating as the commander from 2011 to 2013. He later returned to Fort Campbell to serve as the Acting Senior Commander of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in 2016.

He and his family have strong ties to Fort Campbell and APSU, so taking the position at the university made sense for him.

“There was one point where I left and left the family here hoping that we would get to come back, and it worked out that way. The reason why we are still here today is that I found Clarksville-Montgomery County to be just so welcoming to the military here,” Brower said. “Having lived all around the country, many different military bases, often I found myself feeling like I was a solider living in someone’s community, but when I was here I always felt like I was a solider that was a part of this community. We were accepted into it.”

Since starting his new position at APSU, Brower has been focused on creating better and more integrated programs for military and veteran students at the university, as well as better avenues for funding.

“I would say as a university we don’t really view it as an opportunity, we really view it as an obligation,” he said. “We have the military right here and we have an obligation to really take care of them, because you know for a military affiliated student it is a little bit more challenging for them to earn a degree. It’s not that it’s easy for anybody, it is challenging, but when you have to deal with moving or deployments.”

Brower earned master’s degrees in defense analysis from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and strategic studies from the Air War College in Montgomery, Alabama. He has served in Operation Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

For more of Brower’s story, listen to the full Clarksville’s Conversation podcast below:

About Clarksville’s Conversation:
The Clarksville’s Conversation podcast, hosted by Katie Gambill and Charlie Koon on Clarksvillenow.com, gives you the opportunity to eavesdrop on interviews with leaders and innovators in Clarksville-Montgomery County who shape our community. Check back every Wednesday for new episodes.