Name: Cooper Wilson Williams                        Age: 37
Nationality: Australian                             Height: 1.85 m
Branch: Royal Australian Navy                       Weight: 88 kg
Unit: Special Air Services Regiment                 Hair: Light Brown
Rank: Petty Officer (OR-6)                          Eyes: Green
Current Assignment: 1 Squadron, SASR                Complexion: Light Olive

Description: Cooper Williams is an athletically built male in his late thirties.  He has sandy hair, green eyes, and a constant five o'clock shadow.  He is a clotheshorse, always clad in the latest sleek urban fashions when out of uniform.

Languages: English (5/5), Malay-Indonesian (4/4), Portuguese (4/4), Pashto (3/3), Polish (3/3), Mandarin (2+/2+), Arabic (2/2)

Skill Profile
Master: Unarmed Martial Arts
Expert: Combat Engineer, Damage Control, Parachute, Small Arms (Pistol), Small Arms (Rifle), Small Watercraft, Swimming
Professional: Autogun, Climbing, Disguise, Grenade Launcher, Instruction, Interrogation, Leadership, Observation, Persuasion, Scuba, Stealth, Thrown Weapon
Competent: Chemistry, Ground Vehicle (Wheeled), Survival, Tac Missile

Background: Cooper Williams is the only child of Australian-American expatriates who moved from Newcastle, NSW to Singapore when he was three years old.  Cooper's father was a busy shipping executive for Neptune Orient Lines who spent little time at home.  His American mother was a Public Relations Specialist for Singapore Airlines, who worked equally long hours.  Except during family vacations, Cooper spent more time each day with his Indonesian nanny and family's household staff than he ever did with his parents.

Like most western expat children, he attended private boarding school where he earned below average marks, mostly due to spending more time competing on the swimming and sculling teams than doing his homework.  The private tutors his parents hired did little to improve his grades, though they did improve his Mandarin reading and comprehension skills.  There were few outlets for teenage angst in overly regulated Singapore, so Cooper turned to martial arts to keep from going stir-crazy on the tiny island.  After school and weekend Muay Thai and Wing Chun training brought him into contact with local members of the military, police, along with expat veterans interested in maintaining their martial prowess.  The experience set Cooper on the warrior's path.  Midway through his lower fifth year, Cooper announced that he would enlist in the Royal Australian Navy as a Clearance Diver, a decision that his parents would eventually come to support.

Following eleven weeks of recruit school at HMAS Cerberus, Cooper entered the extensive training pipeline for Clearance Dive Team candidates.  Forty six week of training followed, including Basic Seamanship, two full months of Small Arms training, SCUBA Air course, the Clearance Diver Acceptance Test, Initial Demolitions, ending with the thirty week Basic Clearance Diving course.  After training, Cooper was assigned to Clearance Dive Team 4 at HMS Sterling.  William's first few years in 4 CDT focused on training.

It wasn't until in September of 1999 a small team from 4CDT deployed to East Timor to clandestinely map harbors and beach in preparation for the arrival of peacekeepers.  William's ability to read Indonesian charts, which were more detailed than Royal Australian Survey Corps coastal maps, made him a natural choice for the detail.  The East Timor deployment not only honed Cooper's special reconnaissance and EOD skills, it gave him the opportunity to work with 4th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment Commandos.  Impressed with Williams's combination of language and tactical skills, a 4 RAR (CDO) officer encouraged Cooper to attend Commando selection.  Cooper however wasn't able to apply yet, due to a black mark on his record.  Following the East Timor mission, he had been disciplined for a gambling offense when he won nine straight poker games in a row against crew from the HMAS Huon (II).  He was counseled and told in no uncertain terms that if was caught gambling again, he would lose his security clearance and be discharged from the RAN.  It was this incident that would keep him from making rank for years to come.

In 2003 his team deployed to Iraq to conduct deep/shallow water mine countermeasure operations.  His team opened up the port at Umm Qasar, working with closely with British and US Marines, along with Polish GROM troops.  Once the waterway had been de-mined, the port became an important transshipment point for humanitarian supplies to Iraqi civilians.

With eight years of Clearance Diver experience under his belt, including wartime missions in hostile waters, Cooper was looking for new challenges.  He'd kept his nose clean since the Huon incident, forsaking cards, if not drink and women.  He put in his packet for an attachment to 4 RAR and was quickly picked up by the Regiment.  Following a pass through the Commando Reinforcement Training Cycle, Cooper returned to Iraq in 2004 as part of a 4 RAR  detail providing close protection for Australian officials in Baghdad as part of Operation Catalyst.

In 2006, Cooper's 4 RAR element was deployed to respond to the latest crisis in East Timor.  Once again Cooper's language skills had moved him to the head of the line for duty in the small coastal country.  Fighting side-by-side with Special Air Services Regiment (SASR) operators in the Battle of Same, he earned an ADF Commendation for Gallantry for bravery during the intense 90 minute firefight.

In 2007 Cooper completed SASR selection and was assigned to 1st Squadron as a Linguist and Demolitions expert.  In 2008 he was detailed to the Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) in Afghanistan.  The unit was established to help raise, train, and sustain local Afghan Provincial Police Reserve Company (PRRC) units in Tarin Kowt.  Cooper advised PRRC units on identifying and responding to IED reports and threats, in addition to providing small arms and physical control training.  After a nine month stint training PRRC teams, he rotated back to Australia for another 18 month training cycle.  Cooper was deployed to Afghanistan three more times between 2009 and 2013, mostly in the special reconnaissance and intelligence gathering role.