An armament technician has been awarded the Conspicuous Service Medal in this year’s King’s Birthday honours for his role in developing a system that helped more than 600 Australians join Defence.

In a recruiting process all about velocity and volume, Air Force Sergeant Lawson Alick noticed a ‘speed bump’ causing potential candidates to drop out.

When they couldn’t prove their Year 10 schooling, whether due to lost certificates or international education, candidates would have to go through a lengthy process to get the right paperwork.

“If we don’t maintain the velocity, and a candidate has to wait three months because of [their] education, they might potentially not join,” Sergeant Alick said.

With help from his chain of command, Sergeant Alick created the Alternative Education Entry Pathway, which uses the Basic Key Skill Builder from Queensland TAFE to prove education levels.

The system allowed the recruiters to prove a candidate’s equivalent education level in hours, rather than weeks or months.

'If there is an idea, if you dig in, and get support, it’ll get across the line and you will have the ability to provide meaningful capability improvements to the Defence Force.'

After implementing the system, more than 600 potential recruits – who would have otherwise been knocked back for not having the means to produce education documents – were able to progress.

In one case, a candidate only days away from enlistment was flagged as not having education documents.

“We are not sure how that slipped through the cracks, but within 12 hours we were able to prove their education standards and get their paperwork sorted so they were able to enlist,” Sergeant Alick said.

Sergeant Alick built a dashboard, trackers and coded the app that would facilitate system access for more than 350 military recruiters across Australia.

He said being recognised for his work meant a lot, but it also highlighted the importance of grassroots innovations in Defence.

“If there is an idea, if you dig in, and get support, it’ll get across the line and you will have the ability to provide meaningful capability improvements to the Defence Force,” he said.

“I wasn’t expecting any awards. All I wanted to do was advocate for my candidates as a military recruiter. I had a pipeline of over 250 candidates, and I wanted to see every single one of them join Defence.”