Paul Hooper is the son of two WWII veterans and spent his childhood growing up on USAF air bases in the US and overseas. He attained his dream of being a USAF pilot on 16 April 1974. He retired from the USAF effective 1 February 1993 as a Major and Command Pilot with 5,200 flight hours, having flown the C-130E, T-41C, MC-130E and the CASA 212. He started his career in commercial aviation on 16 March 1993 when he departed Patrick AFB enroute to Lima, Peru where he flew the C-123K and
C-131H in support of DOS/INL Counter Narcotics operations in the Upper Huallaga River Valley in Peru. Thus began his second career as an Accidental Soldier of Fortune.