Lieutenant Colonel Claude E. Cooper Jr. was commissioned an Infantry Officer upon graduation from Officer Candidate School Class 504-68, 3 June 1968. His first duty assignment was as Commander, Operational Detachment A, Company A, 1st Battalion, 8th Special Forces Group, Fort Gulick, Canal Zone. | His subsequent assignments include: Assistant Group S-4, 8th Special Forces Group, Fort Gulick, Canal Zone; Operations/ Intelligence Officer, Advisory Team 2, Special Missions Advisory Group, U.S. Army, Vietnam; Commander/Senior Advisor, Advisory Element 75, Strategic Technical Directorate, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam; S-3 Air, 2nd Battalion, 505th Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Adjutant, 2nd Battalion, 505th Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Commander, Company B, 2nd Battalion, 505th Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Assistant Division G-4/Logistical Readiness Officer, Headquarters, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Assistant Professor of Military Science, Pennsylvania State University at Altoona, Altoona, Pennsylvania; Commander, Company C, 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Group S-3/Operations Officer, 7th Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Chief, Infantry Branch Assistance Team, Readiness Group, Puerto Rico, Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico; Staff Leader, Combined Arms and Services Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Professor of Military Science/ Commander, Army Reserve Officer Training Corps Battalion, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina.