Skull Face was the heavily scarred commander of the military group XOF. He secretly commanded XOF from the 1960s up until his death in 1984, at first acting as a covert ally of Naked Snake during the Virtuous Mission and Operation Snake Eater, and later as Cipher's elite strike force until he finally took control of the organization away from Zero. Skull Face also created the Parasite Unit, a group of parasite-enhanced super soldiers that would act as his chief enforcers and high-level operatives for XOF during the 1980s. He suffered extensive injuries in his youth which caused his characteristic facial scars, burns, and discolorations (most notably a Glasgow smile).