The purpose of Defence honours and awards is to recognise the service of members of the Australian Defence Force.
What you will find on this site:
This website provides information about Defence honours and awards, including:
The site is not designed to be a research resource for honours and awards that are no longer issued, for example, Imperial gallantry and long service awards. Also, information is not provided on individuals or units. To assist those seeking further information, links are provided in the website to a range of other useful sources.
It must be appreciated that an individual's eligibility to awards may involve circumstances that can only be assessed completely using the professional experience and knowledge of assessors and reference to a range of resources that are not readily available, such as microfilm, printed publications and official files. Anyone who believes that they may be eligible for an award should apply using the form available on the site to ensure that any entitlements are fully and accurately assessed.
Announcements
Australian Operational Service Medal (OSM)
Australian Defence Force (ADF) Members
The OSM has been introduced to replace the Australian Active Service Medal (AASM) and Australian Service Medal for future ADF operations. The OSM will be awarded to ADF members for service on operations recommended and approved as warranting recognition. Each declared operation will be recognised by the standard medal with a unique ribbon for each operation in the same way as the United Nations Medal is awarded. Where appropriate, an accumulated service device will recognise those who render additional prescribed periods of service on a particular operation.
The first service declared for the OSM is the range of border protection operations conducted since 1997.
Australian Operational Service Medal - Border Protection Application Form
An application form specifically designed for the Australian Operational Service Medal - Border Protection (AE 376) has been produced and can be downloaded from this website. It is also available on the DRN Webforms site.
Applicants should be aware that every attempt will be made to process their applications promptly. However, the Directorate of Honours and Awards is continuing to source reliable data to enable accurate assessments of all applications received. To that end, there is likely to be a significant delay before applicants are advised of the outcome of their application for the Australian Operational Service Medal - Border Protection.
Operational Service Badge
Before the establishment of the OSM, those who received the AASM were also issued with the Returned from Active Service Badge (RASB). Because the OSM recognises all declared operational service, an Operational Service Badge (OSB) has been established to be issued on the first award of the OSM.
The OSB has two versions - military and civilian, to be issued with the respective medal types.
The RASB will continue to be issued with the AASM for current warlike operations.
In contrast with the RASB, the OSB may also be issued to the next-of-kin of deceased members
to complement the award of the OSM.
Web page last updated 18 December, 2012