Eric Cooper

Eric Cooper served in the Army for 19 ½ years as both a Combat Medic and truck mechanic. In that time, he was also the Safety NCO for multiple units in which he was OSHA certified to inspect maintenance facilities and was the Environmental NCO as well so was HAZMAT certified as a Technician. His training included Counterterrorism, Human Trafficking Awareness, SAEDA, and many other certifications related to his duties. His Combat tours included: Operation Positive Force, Doha, Kuwait in 1991, Somalia, 1993 Balad, Iraq, 2004-2005, Tal Afar, Iraq 2005-2006 In 2008, he was sent to the Warrior Transition Battalion as the Battalion he was in was preparing to return to Iraq for a 3rd tour and he was preparing to retire. In that time Eric went on to the Madigan Army Hospital Safety Office and conducted Joint Commission preparatory inspections of the clinics within the hospital. He was also the Military Liaison for the Safety Office, Pierce County Emergency Management, and the hospital EOC. The Army decided to medically retire Eric and he was retired in 2010. He moved to a small mountain community in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State and as was routine for him, immediately started assessing threats in the community and adding mitigations. He started a Community group on Facebook for the community to keep a pulse on emergency situations and educate on disaster preparedness, threats and issues involved in the community which currently has 6,000 members. In 2015, using his GI Bill he pursued a degree in Homeland Security and in December of 2019 completed his BA. December of 2019 he also started a plan for the East County Consulting agency which is in infancy but will include a Citizen Patrol, SAR, and general Hazard Mitigation consulting. Eric is married, has two kids ages 8 and 9 who are in online schooling due to Covid, and enjoys being involved in the public safety field.