Character Interviews

Character Interview: SEAL Calvin Cooper @sharonlhamilton #RLFblog

Fallen SEAL Legacy

In a departure from our usual format today, author Sharon
Hamilton is interviewing her character Nebraska
born and bred Navy SEAL Calvin “Coop” Cooper. After his own family has perished
in a tornado, Cooper is ordered to meet the family of a prominent San Diego psychiatrist. The
doctor’s brother is a fallen SEAL medic who died in Grenada. There, Cooper meets Libby Brownlee,
the beautiful niece of this fallen hero. Heavily influenced by her father, “We don’t
speak military here,” is her comment about the military in general, and the SEAL
community in particular.

What starts out as a frosty debate between two people privately
dealing with their own personal grief, turns into a passionate affair neither expected.
Just as Cooper realizes perhaps Libby is the woman he’s always been looking for,
she is snatched out from under him by a psychopathic killer bent on revenge.
Dr. Brownlee is forced to rely on Cooper’s help, along with his
buddies in SEAL Team 3. Will Cooper be able to survive the loss of the woman he
loves, or will his self sacrifice be enough to keep her safe?
Book: Fallen SEAL Legacy
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Buy links:
Amazon http://amzn.com/B00AKJN1TI/

Interview

Today I am pleased to do a character interview with Special
Operator (SO) Calvin Cooper, from SEAL Team 3, based in San Diego, California. I’ve been given a little cheat sheet on him, and so I’m going
to ask him some questions he probably wasn’t expecting.
Sharon: Tell me a bit about yourself and your
background.
Cooper: I was born
in Nebraska, near
Pender. My family was third generation farmers, having come over from Denmark in the early
1900’s. When I was little, my great grandfather used to read Hans Christian Andersen
stories to me at bedtime.
Sharon: Those sound like wonderful memories. What
did you like best about growing up on a farm?
Cooper: The way the
land looks after you’ve plowed it, the smell of the soil and the early morning sunlight.
Summers we worked sun up to sunset. Some day I hope to move back there, when the
time is right.
Sharon: I understand you experienced a tragedy
last year. Your whole family destroyed in a tornado. I’m so sorry for your loss.
Cooper: The farm,
my dad, mom, my sister and her husband and their little girl. And grandpa. Everyone.
All gone. My dog Bay survived. It was the lowest point in my entire life. I threw
myself back into my job. Wanted to go back to work in the worst way, but Chief Timmons
ordered me to meet the family of SO Brownlee, who had been killed in Grenada.
Sharon: That was significant, having you meet
the family of SO Brownlee. You carried his name engraved on your KAY-BAR, right?
Cooper: Yes, every
SEAL is awarded a KAY-BAR in a private ceremony before we get our Tridents. We carry
the name of a fallen SEAL. Chief Timmons wanted me to meet his family. Little did
he know I would find the girl of my dreams there.
Sharon: From what I’ve been told, they were none
too pleased to meet you.
Cooper: Kinda made
me mad at first. Not used to families who aren’t friendly toward our community.
Libby Brownlee was definitely the ice queen when I first met her. I think her father
had put notions in her head about what we are about.
Sharon: So tell me about your Team. What kind
of guys are you?
Cooper: We’re all
different. There’s Kyle, he’s our leader. Been on the teams for almost ten years,
always was a California
dude, if you know what I mean. Got himself a pretty little wife, Christy, who is
sort of our Team’s Realtor. Now has a baby. Kyle is an expert marksman, and a born
leader. He and Armando were swim buddies during BUD/S.
There’s Armando, but we call him Armani because he likes to dress
up. Native of Puerto Rico, he’s usually the one
all the ladies want. Very protective of his mother and his little sister, Mia. Armando
is an explosives expert. He’s also the best swimmer on the team, although I’m right
behind him.
Fredo is Mexican by heritage, grew up in LA. He’s our equipment
and radioman. He can rig a microphone anywhere and be able to track it remotely.
Also deadly with explosives. Don’t try to wrestle him, because he cheats. He’s in
love with Armani’s sister, but she won’t give him the time of day. He has a heart
the size of the ocean.
We got a new guy on the Team, LT Malcolm Jones, originally from
Texas. He actually
got an NFL contract but decided to go to the Academy instead. Never saw a guy run
so darned fast before. He can high jump over cars without breaking a sweat.
Sharon: But you haven’t told us what your expert
capabilities are.
Cooper: I’m the gadget
guy. I think I became a SEAL for the equipment and the toys. That’s what I used
to spend all my time and money on when I first joined up. I live in a motor home
at the beach, so I could save up to have every gadget known to man. Just bought
a great drone in Silicon Valley, which came in
mighty handy recently.
Sharon: I understand you are getting married shortly.
Cooper: Yes, Ma’am,
that’s affirmative. Libby made me the luckiest man on the planet when she agreed
to marry me.
Sharon: Other than the cool equipment, what do
you like about being a SEAL?
SEAL Endeavor
Cooper: I guess like
Kyle, I wanted to just see how far I could get. You never really know what you can
do until you test your limits. I just wanted to see, first of all, if I had what
it takes to become a SEAL. I didn’t get all macho about it. Bragging around the
place. Those are the fakers. Easy to spot. Tell everyone. That’s not the SEAL way.
Like Kyle, I feel lucky to have found something I love doing
at such an early age. I guess I would have remained on the farm in Nebraska if I’d washed out.
Never knew anything else. Never wanted to make millions of dollars, and sure as
heck they don’t pay you that when you’re on the Teams. But that’s not why we do
it. We love being the heroes that save the day. Get all the great girls. We get
to jump out of airplanes and helicopters at midnight. Sneak in and get out before
anyone knows we’ve been there. You need guys like us. I like that our country depends
on us to get our job done without drama. Leave the drama in the theater where it
belongs. We just get ‘er done.
Sharon: What advice would you give readers to
learn more about you and your Team buds?
Cooper: There’s tons
of stuff written about us, not all of it very accurate, of course. But we think
it’s funny how everyone wants to make us out to be superheroes. Hell, we even get
Superman and Spiderman underwear for special missions. We’re just plain guys doing
a job no one else can do. That’s a pretty cool thing when you think about it.
We’re trained to handle anything. Improvise. Learn from the enemy.
Observe mostly, talk little and never show off. So, let us be. Tell us thanks. That’s
the best thing anyone can do for us. Appreciate us. Because we love all of you.
Sharon: Well, Coop, I don’t think I could have
said it better myself. Keep yourself safe, and I hope we’ll get to hear more about
you and your buddies in the months and years to come.
Cooper: You bet. We’ll
be here. We’re always here, and we’re always ready.
What question would you ask SO Calvin Cooper if you had the chance?
What would you like to see the SEALs do in an upcoming story? Anything you’ve wanted
to know? Maybe I can get Coop to answer back.

About the Author

Sharon Hamilton
Sharon Hamilton loves all things paranormal: Angels, Dark Angels,
Watchers, Guardians, Upogenie, and Vampires. She also has developed a series of
hot romantic suspense Navy SEAL stories that have ranked her in the top 100 at Amazon
in that genre and the book ranked in the top 100 for 12 weeks in a row.
Her characters follow a spicy road to redemption through passion
and true love–not exactly what they taught you in Sunday School!
An avid organic vegetable and flower gardener, Sharon and her
husband live in the Wine Country in Northern California,
where most of her stories take place.

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