Robert Cook's Blog, page 2
June 21, 2010
MY STORY
A little about me: Alejandro Mohammed Cuchiulain (Cooch)
Born: Audley, South Carolina to a Medal of Honor winning former marine and the daughter of a Bedouin Sheik. I spent many summers in Spain and Morocco, so I speak pretty fluent Spanish and Arabic.
Education: Bachelor’s in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Masters in the Philosophy of Islam, College of Oriental Studies, Oxford University, every course in explosives exploitation offered by the US government (and a few by the Brits). I spent much of my youth at the CIA training facility, learning to be a bad ass.
Who I am: I’ve been called that baddest MF in the whole world, but I think of myself for more positively, no surprise. I’m a hedge fund manager with a background in government sponsored violence. I like to blow things up, and I’m good at it. I’ve worked hard from a young age to be a decent martial artist and strong enough to be unusual. I worked in the Special-Operation unit of the CIA for 8 years directly, and I’m still involved, albeit covertly. I’m an American, and proud of it.
My partners in today’s violent activities are pretty much the same stone-cold killers I worked with when on active duty. We’re all a bit older now, but no less violent. There’s Mac MacMillan, the only one of us still working full-time for Uncle Sam; he’s got a job in the White House. Brooks Elliot is an investment banker, Rhodes Scholar and former Seal; he’s my best friend. Jerome Masterson is my former special-ops partner, who was trained as a sniper before Mac found him quite a few years ago and put him to work for the CIA and as my partner. We’ve had a few adventures together, some legal, some not.
Good advice I’ve received: My father managed to get a Medal of Honor in Vietnam, and a wheelchair to go with it. He said Always Retaliate First, and I certainly try to do that; I don’t wait for bad guys to start a brawl.
Self concept: I think of myself as a thoughtful guy. I worry about how people interact and how societies get off track, sometimes. Some would say that I just kill those with whom I disagree; I think that’s too harsh.
Social life: I have a girlfriend, I think. I like her a lot, but she doesn’t like me nearly as much as I do her. She’s also a lot smarter than I am (she won a MacArthur Grant (the Genius Grant) at age 23, just after she got her physics Ph.D. from Caltech. She runs a high-tech company where my fund has a big investment. I worry about that money in these tough economic times.
