A little more:
William Cooper and His Death - Awakening Blog
Quote:
The son of a U.S. Air Force officer, Cooper graduated in 1961 from Yamato High School in Japan, and enlisted in the U.S. Air force. He was honorably discharged in 1965, and enlisted in the U.S. Navy in December of that year.
He served in Vietnam, rising to the rank of petty officer. Cooper was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal with combat V and the Navy Achievement Medal with combat V. He was honorably discharged in 1974.
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Total service time 13 years. 9 years of Navy (probably 8 because a 4 year enlistment is the standard but with Vietnam could have been lengthened).
Not decades and not an Intelligence officer. Petty officers are E4, E5, or E6 after that is Chief Petty Officer. With 8-9 years in he was probably an E5, he could have made E6 in that time depending on his job.
Nonetheless, a petty officer is not an officer, it is an enlisted rank. An intelligence officer would be an officer.
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