LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, Ark. --
Rank and name: Senior Airman Jerrick Cooper
Unit: 19th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron
Official Duty title: C-130 journeyman
Hometown: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Time in service: 5 years
Time at Little Rock: 4 years
Goals: Make staff sergeant, complete his Community College of the Air Force degree and buy a house
Hobbies: Family time, movie fanatic and video games
As a Communication Security Responsible officer, Cooper guided five of his peers to earn their certifications, while safeguarding over $100,000 in Cryptographic Controlled assets and 150 digital secured keys. He was singularly responsible for a zero-defect annual audit and earned a coin from the Inspector General for being one of the few Unit Vertical Inspection Superior Performers (top 3%).
Additionally, he leveraged his system expertise and authored an engineering request to Lockheed Martin and Air Force engineers to bypass failing UHF radio components. This act has mitigated supply shortages and reduced communication failures across the entire C-130J fleet and paved the way for major Tech Data changes and long-term improvements.
Finally, as the main point of contact for the Robins Air Force Base’s Electro-Magnetic Interference Compatibility team in pursuit of Air Mobility Command’s 25 x ’25 initiative, he conducted testing for the first Joint Deployable Airborne hatch-mounted radio modifications on the C-130J, enhancing Command and Control in contested environments, earning him a Letter of Appreciation from the 509th Signal Intelligence commander.