In 1942, Carl Cooper joined the U.S Marine Corps. He served in the Pacific Theater where he saw combat action at Guadalcanal and at Okinawa. In 1946, Cooper returned home from the war but remained active in the Marine Corps Reserves. He also took up teaching and coaching football. From 1968 to 1979 Cooper went back to work for the military, this time for the Selective Service System. From the late 1990s to the early 2000s he worked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, helping FEMA clean-up after natural disasters.