Kowalski grew up in the streets, and soon the desert. He had always learned you can't rely on anyone but yourself, and he intended to live and die by that. He joined the UNSC as a way to escape living in a life filled with hopelessness. Soon Kowalski found himself running against his beliefs, now seeing he could have the capacity to care for a team, to make friends. This lead him to become an ODST Captain, soon being offered the job of running Charon Industries' security team.

Armed with a staff and armor detailed in art of his hometown, he leads the Charon Industries team. He had known some of the members of the previous team, grieving the loss of many before it was his turn to run the team. He never planned to fight the Freelancers, believing they would doom themselves before they would meet, but he was clearly mistaken.