OAM Founder and Principal John GARTNER is an internationally known and respected security and risk management adviser, with extensive commercial security management experience gained internationally.

 

His commercial security experience complements comprehensive multinational military Special Forces and strategic intelligence service credentials built on service in AUSTRALIA, ASIA and AFRICA.

 

He has served with “Tier 1” Special Forces units in Australia (SAS Regiment), Rhodesia (SAS and Selous Scouts Regiments) and South Africa (Special Forces), before serving in senior training and advisory roles across the Sri Lanka Defence establishment (Army, Police Special Task Force, and Navy) during the decades-long war against the LTTE ("Tamil Tiger") insurgency.

 

His military service commenced with 3 years in the Australian Army. On the successful completion of the Australian SAS Regiment's rigorous selection course, he served with "C" Troop (vehicle mounted long range reconnaissance), 1 SAS Squadron. Following this service, he then relocated to Africa, serving for a further 9 years in the Rhodesian and South African Defence Forces, in front-line combat roles, engaged on counter-insurgency (CI) and counter-terrorism (CT) duties.

 

Leaving the military and his Special Forces role, he then served for 3 years as an intelligence officer with South Africa's National Intelligence Service (NIS), where he was deployed on strategic intelligence gathering operations across southern and central Africa (the "Front Line States").

 

With NIS, he was tasked with assessing political, economic, military, security and social issues, and identifying diverse risk factors impacting the Southern African region during the height of the Cold War, where each of the then-superpowers (USA and USSR) worked to maintain their spheres of influence through an array of regional proxies.

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After his 12 years of Special Forces and National Intelligence service and activities in Africa, he relocated to South Asia, where he served a further 3 years, delivering in-theatre military training, including front-line advisory duties to, and mentoring of, Sri Lankan Infantry and Special Forces units engaged on CI and CT operations. 

 

On the completion of his 3 years active service in Sri Lanka, he relocated to Europe, based principally in London and Geneva, and served for 6 years as a security and close protection adviser to internationally known, respected and high profile Saudi Arabian diplomat, Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani.

 

After 6 years based in Europe, he relocated to Brunei Darussalam, serving for a further 3 years in a high profile security advisory role, employed by a senior member of the Brunei Royal Family, Prince Jefri Bolkiah and his son, Prince Abdul Hakeem, ultimately serving as Director of Security, before returning to Australia in 1998 and establishing OAM Australia, and then in 1999 establishing OAM Indonesia, based in Jakarta.

 

Since 1998, he has delivered, and continues to deliver, strategic and tactical security consultancy services and risk management support throughout AFRICA (North Africa & the Sahara/Sahel belt, West, Central & East Africa), SOUTH EAST ASIA and the INDOCHINA Peninsula, the MIDDLE EAST (Iraq and Iran), and SOUTH AMERICA, always in high risk and challenging environments.

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To support the OAM Principal, OAM consultants bring to their employment strong Special Forces experience and skills, highlighting their ability to work in challenging environments and demonstrate innovative thinking, complemented by their capacity to endure hardship and function effectively over prolonged periods of time.

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The OAM Principal and Consultants maintain an unwavering commitment to the strategic (“big picture”) and tactical (“day to day, on the ground”) needs of their Clients. OAM’s raison d’être and operational focus will always be the welfare and safety of every employee of every Client

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