Editing Milton William Cooper (section)

==Early life and education==
Little is known about Cooper's background and education, beyond the information supplied in his own accounts. He claimed to have served in the [[United States Navy]], the [[United States Air Force]], and [[Office of Naval Intelligence|Naval Intelligence]] until his discharge in 1975;<ref name="Barkun2006">{{cite book|author=Michael Barkun|title=A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LiwjVsNBw-cC&pg=PA60|access-date=January 5, 2012|year= 2006|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|isbn=978-0-520-24812-0|page=60}}</ref> however, public records only indicate a period of service in the Navy with a ratings code of E-5/Sergeant ([[Petty officer second class]] in the Navy), including a tour of duty in [[Vietnam]] with two service medals.<ref>Milton William Cooper. [https://aad.archives.gov/aad/display-partial-records.jsp?f=4254&mtch=2&q=milton+william+cooper&cat=all&dt=1784&tf=F aad.archives.gov]. Retrieved November 24, 2014.</ref> At the end of the war, while working in naval intelligence, Cooper served on a briefing team for Admiral Bernard A. Clarey.<ref name="Pioneer"/> He then attended a junior college in California, and worked for several technical and vocational schools before making his conspiracy theories known, beginning in 1988. Cooper expanded the speculations of earlier conspiracists by incorporating government involvement with extraterrestrials as a central theme.<ref name="Carroll">{{cite book|last=Carroll|first=Robert Todd|title=The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions|year=2003|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons, Inc.]]|location=Hoboken, NJ|isbn=978-1118045633|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6FPqDFx40vYC|author-link=Robert Todd Carroll|access-date=January 17, 2013|page=175|chapter=Illuminati|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6FPqDFx40vYC&pg=PA175}}</ref>