About Osprey Group USA
Osprey Group USA was formed by Sgt Major (ret) Mark Spicer is a 25-year veteran of the British Army with a worldwide reputation in the sphere of Sniping and Counter terrorism, which led to his selection and use as the US Governments Expert witness in the Washington DC Sniper trials. He has served worldwide with the British and UN forces on real world deployments, and has vast experience of counter terrorist operations and terrorist methods of operation, having worked extensively against the IRA in Northern Ireland and subsequent terrorist elements throughout the former Yugoslavia and Middle East regions. Working within specialist Infantry units as well as both covert and overt special operations units, he has gained a vast experience of counter terrorism and covert surveillance operations, often working at very close proximity to known terrorists without their knowledge, and received an award from the Her Majesty the Queen, in recognition of his success during a particular counter terrorist operation. His experience and understanding of the terrorist mind, has seen him become a successful seminar keynote speaker at Tactical Officer Associations (SWAT) across the United States and for the Dept. of Homeland security. He also recently completed a 2- year contract with Osprey Group, working directly for His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan, where he designed and project managed a new training facility as well as planned and controlled several State Visit Security Cordons.
Business Philosophy
With the ever-increasing demand on time today, our company intent, is always to make our client’s needs as easy to achieve as possible. To that end we instigated a system of bespoke designed solutions, guided by the client’s hand, coupled to a 24/7 commitment, to finding and achieving the client’s needs and desires, built around a carefully selected training and support team. We believe that everyone has experience of value and so our product should always be looking to progress and adapt from the experience of our staff as well as that of our clients. Our main target audience was traditionally specialist units, military, police and Government based, but with the growing threat of domestic as well as international terrorism, we received a growing request to assist in the protection against the threat to the Critical National Infrastructure, and so adapted our skills base to better assist the corporate world and the needs of their security and asset protection, as well as providing Subject Matter Experts to the media and movie business. The staff at Osprey Group already have several decades of experience against domestic and international terrorism, proven and repeatable, and now wish to use that knowledge to protect those most at risk, assist in the training of those still operational and provide a safe world solution to today’s problems.
Testimonials
To Whom It May concern,
At the direct command His Majesty King Abdullah II’s directive, I was personally instructed to establish a world class sniper centre for the Jordan Armed Forces in late 2015. Following detailed and extensive personal research, I selected Mark Spicer as the best person to realize this project.
To this end, I travelled from Jordan to meet and to personally recruit Mr. Spicer at his home in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, in early 2016. We discussed the project at length and in great detail over several days, and hit it off splendidly on a personal level. The meetings ended with us shaking hands, agreed to sign a contract and begin fulfilling His Majesty’s Command, starting the 1st of April, 2016, until 31st of March, 2018.
I was the over-all project supervisor, while Mr. Spicer was the head of the project, in conjunction with a Jordanian Lieutenant-Colonel from the Royal Guard. With His Majesty’s permission, I named the project “The King Abdullah II Sniper Centre”.
We began with the assessment of Jordan’s entire sniper capabilities, up to and including equipment, weapons, training and training facilities. This review enabled Mr. Spicer to produce a practical and timely proposal for an effective implementation plan.
Following my approval of this proposal, Mr. Spicer started a two-year project to raise the overall standard of the Jordan Armed Forces sniping capabilities, and to create a “Train the Trainer” program to ensure sustainability upon completion of our project.
Mr. Spicer also designed and project managed the building of the new sniper training facility from which all future sniper training will be conducted.
His time in Jordan saw us design and implement a program of Enhanced Sustainment Training for all JAF sniper platoons to attend, the research and design of weapons and equipment programs to bring Jordanian snipers on par with US and UK sniper equipment schedules and the design of the following training courses:
- Basic Sniper
- Advanced Sniper
- Sniper Instructor
- Aerial Interdiction
- Counter Sniper
- Sniper Employment Officer
- Basic Marksmanship
- Advanced Marksmanship
- Mobile Training Team concepts
He also designed and created a full series of sniper-related training posters and power-points to standardize and implement a sustainable program for sniper forces.
His training team numbered eight instructors including him. It consisted of sniper instructors from the UK Royal Marines, Army and SAS as well as instructors from the US Army and USMC sniper schools, thereby giving us the full experience spectrum of the world’s sniper training leaders. All of his team members had operational experience.
In order to properly mirror his Jordanian counterparts, Mr. Spicer was awarded, by Royal Decree, the Acting Rank of Lieutenant-Colonel; his 2IC and his Head of Training that of Majors respectively: and the remaining team members those of Captain, all in the Royal Guard, whose uniform and badges of rank they wore while on duty. They were all approved to carry firearms at all times.
As such, he and his team were intimately involved in supervising the protective sniper coverage of several very high-profile events including:
- The (Annual) State Opening of Parliament by His Majesty King Abdullah II
- The 2016 Dead Sea World Economic Forum (WEF)
- The 100th Anniversary Celebrations of the Great Arab Revolt (2016)
- The State Visit of HM King Salman of Saudi Arabia to Jordan
- The 2017 Arab League Summit Conference at the Dead Sea.
I must add that these operations involved the Combined establishing and manning days-long route surveillance desert OPs, heliborne operations, as well as counter-sniper plans that observed and covered hundreds of buildings and several thousands of windows. I believe that Mr. Spicer even counted those windows, and they came to 4,000.
Mr. Spicer extensively visited our (active) front-line positions on our border with Syria, in order to advise our forces on the optimum placing of OPs and sniper hides.
Mr. Spicer worked Royal Jordanian Airforce pilots and crews of Super Puma and Blackhawk helicopters, teaching them aircraft positioning and sniper cooperation for firing from aerial platforms, and deployed as such on the occasions mentioned above.
He also worked with the snipers of our 77th Marine Infantry Battalion to instruct them in maritime boarding sniper coverage.
Significantly, Mr. Spicer conducted a clinical analysis of the assassination of former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sana’a, Yemen, on the 4th of December 2017. Using only photographs, Mr. Spicer was able to correctly determine the caliber and weapon, the range, and the trajectory of the round that killed former President Saleh with a headshot.
This analysis was widely disseminated across the Jordan Armed Forces and the Jordanian General Intelligence Department, to great acclaim. Aside from the invaluable political and intelligence value, this analysis vividly demonstrated the capabilities of trained snipers in both target interdictions, and post-mortem evaluations. It is now an integral part of the Royal Guard’s training syllabus, from both the sniping/counter-sniping and personal protection perspectives.
Lastly, Mr. Spicer worked with our tier one covert observation unit, along with their embedded UK SAS advisor, to further enhance their skills. This unit is continuously operationally deployed, and was engaged in several active anti-terrorist operations during Mr. Spicer’s time with us.
Mr. Spicer was presented to His Majesty the King on several occasions to personally brief His Majesty on our work, and was granted the honor of a Private Audience with His Majesty the King at the Royal Hashemite Court.
He also, on numerous occasions, briefed high-ranking Jordanian officers of the General Staff in detail, as well as those of Allied countries, and their civilian counter-parts of Cabinet rank. Mr. Spicer’s concept was of such quality that the US Defense Attaché’s Office in Amman approved it for funding the King Abdullah II Sniper Centre through US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) security assistance to Jordan. The sum is classified.
Mr. Spicer worked extremely well with his Jordanian counter-parts, understanding the local mindset and culture very quickly, and was highly respectful of our customs and traditions. He fully understood the need for tact, diplomacy and a sense of humor, while building genuine bonds of personal friendship, affection and mutual respect with his Jordanian counterparts, as well as special operations representatives from Allied Countries such as the US, the UK, France, and Bahrain. He is a soldier’s soldier through and through, and one of the finest it has been my honor to meet and work with. I could not recommend him more highly, and he is very much missed by all.
On a personal level, I consider Mr. Spicer, or Col. Spicer as I know him now and always, as a comrade-in-arms and a true personal friend. He is a man of tremendous energy, high personal and professional ethics, and consummate skill in his chosen way of life. He is also superb company. We spent many a pleasurable off-duty hour together. He was a frequent and welcomed guest in my home, and a friend of my entire family. Although we regretfully no longer work together, we remain close, and I hope, life-long friends.
Talal bin Muhammad
The Osprey Group conducted training for the members of the Special Forces Operations Detachment in the field of Personal Security Detail (PSD) and Aerial Sniper Interdiction As an observer of these programs, I concluded that the Osprey Group is indeed capable of providing personnel with the most advanced training and tools necessary to fight unconventional enemies in different arenas. Their skills and drills are modern and will prove vital to the members of the Special Forces Operations Detachment. I highly recommend Osprey Group USA to provide training for the Special Forces Operations Detachment.
Sgt Troop Commander
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“To understand camouflage and how its deployed, its true purpose and not its displayed intent, is to see the next move before it’s made. Knowledge is the only true power, how it is used decides the path and the outcome”
