The opportunity was much too tantalizing, and Darrel Bowman just couldn't resist.

It was a moment where Bowman could continue to raise his voice in support for veterans nationwide, and the U.S. Coast Guard veteran took advantage.

In Washington, D.C. last week to accept the award for being named the National Veteran Small Business Champion by the U.S. Small Business Administration, there was a brief moment in the presentation ceremony where Bowman was to come up, claim his award and go back to his seat.

But Bowman took a quick pause - to the event organizers' surprise - to say a few words about honoring those who have served the country and those who continue to do so.

"You don't become a champion by not talking about it," Bowman said with a laugh.

While at the podium, Bowman asked those in attendance to take a moment of silence for those who've died while fighting serving the country. He then reminded people that about one percent of the 300 million people who live in U.S. are veterans or an active member of the Armed Forces. Some veterans in the audience even stood up and remained standing while he was talking.

"They are the one percent who make it all possible for the rest to live in America," said Bowman, a 50-year-old Tacoma resident who owns mynetworkcompany.com, which specializes in providing managed technology service solutions for a variety of industry companies, local governments, state agencies and federal departments.

Bowman's short acceptance speech moved many in attendance, including his 22-year-old son, Justin, an explosive ordinance disposal Soldier with the 752nd EOD Company out of Fort Hood, Texas.

"I couldn't believe the number of people that came up to me afterwards to thank me," he said.

One veteran came up to Bowman and gave him a hug and started crying.

"That was very moving," he said.

The speech was one more instance of Bowman's many actions to champion legislative and regulatory action to boost veteran-owned business access to state and federal government contracting opportunities.

Bowman stays actively involved with community, congressional, senate leaders and the State Department of Veteran Affairs.  He advocated for new legislation promoting the use of veteran and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses as a percentage of the contracted services in Washington state government. He also participated in Sen. Patty Murray's Pierce County Veteran Employment Roundtable to help shape proposed veteran employment legislation.

"Darrel is a dynamic community leader who helps grow the regional economy while supporting fellow veterans and military retirees," Calvin Goings, U.S. Small Business Administration regional advisor, said in a release. "His high degree of integrity, responsibility, and commitment to community causes, veteran issues, and the promotion of veteran business initiatives is what merited him this prestigious recognition - SBA's 2011 Veteran Business Champion award at the Washington state, Region 10 (consisting of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska) and National level."

While Bowman admits he was honored and humbled to win the award, he said it won't slow him down or silence his voice from continuing to speak up for veterans.

"I think it makes me feel a responsibility to do more," he said. "They'll always be more oppourtunities."