Del Spier
Delmar (Del) Spier grew up on a farm in eastern Nebraska and is the youngest of four children. He has served in the US Air Force on active duty and the US Navy Reserves. Del's professional career started with the Aurora Colorado Police Department where he obtained the rank of lieutenant. He held a number of positions there and was named Police Office of the Year by the Colorado Police Officers Association. He then served with the US Department of State, USAID, Office of Public Safety. His assignments in Vietnam included Provincial Police Advisor, Regional Training Officer and Regional Chief of Public Safety in Vietnam.
Spier was transferred to the Office of Public Safety Headquarters in Washington D.C. in 1969 and served as the Deputy Director of the Vietnam Division. In 1972, he was selected to serve as the Chief of the Lao Office Public Safety program where he served until the closing of the worldwide Office of Public Safety Program in 1975.
During service in Vietnam and Lao, he received several honors: the Vietnam government's Medal of Honor and the US Government Meritorious Honor Medal for action during the 1968 Tet Offensive and the May 1968 Offensive, commendation from the Vietnam
Government, 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree honor medals from the Director of the Vietnam National Police, commendation from the President of the United States for his work with the anti-narcotic program in Lao and commendations from both the Lao Minister of Interior and Director General of the Lao National Police.
With the closing of the Office of Public Safety Del was employed by both Ashland Oil, Inc. and Aminoil, Inc. as the Corporate Director for Security. From 1975 to 1986, he directed security programs for their national and international oil, gas, coal, petrochemical and construction operations to include refining, mining, exploration, transportation and storage. When Philips Petroleum acquired Aminoil in 1986 Del established his own security company.
US Protection & Investigation, LLC (USPI) provided security worldwide for the US government, other international governments, city
governments, numerous energy / petroleum corporations, insurance companies, personalities, small business, and individuals. Del went to Afghanistan in 2002 and established a security operation using the Afghan Ministry of Interior Personnel. His security operation grew to be the largest in the country and, merely by the presence of his 5,000-man security force stationed throughout Afghanistan, provided the citizens of Afghanistan protection that the Afghan Government was not and could not provide.
Del and his wife Barbara have five children and eight grand children. They live in Hempstead, Texas.
The book: AN IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION: Spier's were in unfriendly enemy territory, in the middle of a war. They developed and managed the first donor funded reconstruction projects protection operation and a private funded NGO for the assistance of widows, orphans and other unfortunate citizens for the country of Afghanistan
What started as a project to reconstruct the highway between Kabul and Kandahar evolved into an ambitious effort to provide Afghanistan with new roads, bridges, schools, clinics, power plants, and irrigation projects. These assignments fell to the Texas-based security firm, US Protection & Investigation, LLC (USPI), which in the space of a few years rose to become the most pervasive and effective paramilitary force in Afghanistan.
USPI security personnel worked throughout Afghanistan where they encountered ambushes, IEDs (improvised explosive devices), warlords, drug kingpins, criminals and ordinary Afghans coping with the horrors of everyday life. These horrors struck a humanitarian nerve in the Spiers.
The couple's compassion and concern for fellow humans lead them to develop and manage a private funded NGO, without any government assistance, that provided food, fuel, clothing, medical assistance, language training, computer training, and jewelry and clothing making training to the unfortunate Their assistance also included a women shelter.
The Security operations were caught in the crossfire of Afghanistan's endemic corruption, criminals, and ethnic rivalries and Washington's shifting military strategies and bureaucratic inertia. The initiatives required weapons, health and death benefits, ammunition, uniforms, and vehicles, which the underfunded Government of Afghanistan would not or could not supply, but still mandated by the U.S. Government and the Afghanistan Government,
As American troops are being withdrawn from Afghanistan, one overriding question will occupy the public for years: How could an endeavor that began with the toppling of the Taliban regime in Kabul a decade ago have evolved into the longest war in American history?
The Spiers' path ultimately led them into a protracted legal battle. The U.S. Government turned on the very company that for years had relentlessly protected its numerous rehabilitation / reconstruction projects in Afghanistan. Only dramatic courtroom decisions handed down in March and July 2010 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. brought the matter to a surprising conclusion.
As an executive movie editor has said, "This book is a movie – it has danger, excitement, drama, and a surprise satisfying ending."
Delmar (Del) Spier grew up on a farm in eastern Nebraska and is the youngest of four children. He has served in the US Air Force on active duty and the US Navy Reserves. Del's professional career started with the Aurora Colorado Police Department where he obtained the rank of lieutenant. He held a number of positions there and was named Police Office of the Year by the Colorado Police Officers Association. He then served with the US Department of State, USAID, Office of Public Safety. His assignments in Vietnam included Provincial Police Advisor, Regional Training Officer and Regional Chief of Public Safety in Vietnam.
Spier was transferred to the Office of Public Safety Headquarters in Washington D.C. in 1969 and served as the Deputy Director of the Vietnam Division. In 1972, he was selected to serve as the Chief of the Lao Office Public Safety program where he served until the closing of the worldwide Office of Public Safety Program in 1975.
During service in Vietnam and Lao, he received several honors: the Vietnam government's Medal of Honor and the US Government Meritorious Honor Medal for action during the 1968 Tet Offensive and the May 1968 Offensive, commendation from the Vietnam
Government, 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree honor medals from the Director of the Vietnam National Police, commendation from the President of the United States for his work with the anti-narcotic program in Lao and commendations from both the Lao Minister of Interior and Director General of the Lao National Police.
With the closing of the Office of Public Safety Del was employed by both Ashland Oil, Inc. and Aminoil, Inc. as the Corporate Director for Security. From 1975 to 1986, he directed security programs for their national and international oil, gas, coal, petrochemical and construction operations to include refining, mining, exploration, transportation and storage. When Philips Petroleum acquired Aminoil in 1986 Del established his own security company.
US Protection & Investigation, LLC (USPI) provided security worldwide for the US government, other international governments, city
governments, numerous energy / petroleum corporations, insurance companies, personalities, small business, and individuals. Del went to Afghanistan in 2002 and established a security operation using the Afghan Ministry of Interior Personnel. His security operation grew to be the largest in the country and, merely by the presence of his 5,000-man security force stationed throughout Afghanistan, provided the citizens of Afghanistan protection that the Afghan Government was not and could not provide.
Del and his wife Barbara have five children and eight grand children. They live in Hempstead, Texas.
The book: AN IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION: Spier's were in unfriendly enemy territory, in the middle of a war. They developed and managed the first donor funded reconstruction projects protection operation and a private funded NGO for the assistance of widows, orphans and other unfortunate citizens for the country of Afghanistan
What started as a project to reconstruct the highway between Kabul and Kandahar evolved into an ambitious effort to provide Afghanistan with new roads, bridges, schools, clinics, power plants, and irrigation projects. These assignments fell to the Texas-based security firm, US Protection & Investigation, LLC (USPI), which in the space of a few years rose to become the most pervasive and effective paramilitary force in Afghanistan.
USPI security personnel worked throughout Afghanistan where they encountered ambushes, IEDs (improvised explosive devices), warlords, drug kingpins, criminals and ordinary Afghans coping with the horrors of everyday life. These horrors struck a humanitarian nerve in the Spiers.
The couple's compassion and concern for fellow humans lead them to develop and manage a private funded NGO, without any government assistance, that provided food, fuel, clothing, medical assistance, language training, computer training, and jewelry and clothing making training to the unfortunate Their assistance also included a women shelter.
The Security operations were caught in the crossfire of Afghanistan's endemic corruption, criminals, and ethnic rivalries and Washington's shifting military strategies and bureaucratic inertia. The initiatives required weapons, health and death benefits, ammunition, uniforms, and vehicles, which the underfunded Government of Afghanistan would not or could not supply, but still mandated by the U.S. Government and the Afghanistan Government,
As American troops are being withdrawn from Afghanistan, one overriding question will occupy the public for years: How could an endeavor that began with the toppling of the Taliban regime in Kabul a decade ago have evolved into the longest war in American history?
The Spiers' path ultimately led them into a protracted legal battle. The U.S. Government turned on the very company that for years had relentlessly protected its numerous rehabilitation / reconstruction projects in Afghanistan. Only dramatic courtroom decisions handed down in March and July 2010 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. brought the matter to a surprising conclusion.
As an executive movie editor has said, "This book is a movie – it has danger, excitement, drama, and a surprise satisfying ending."
