# Australian Operational Service Medal

The Australian Operational Service Medal is a campaign medal established on 22 May 2012 to recognise service by Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel on designated hazardous operations. It may also be awarded to civilians who serve alongside the ADF on designated operations under specific conditions.
It replaces the Australian Active Service Medal and Australian Service Medal for future ADF operations. The medal is issued to military personnel with a different ribbon for each designated operation. When issued to civilians, a standard ribbon is issued with clasps issued for each designated operation.

## Overview

The Australian Operational Service Medal is a campaign medal established by Royal Letters Patent on 22 May 2012. This campaign medal was instituted as a replacement for future issues of the Australian Active Service Medal and Australian Service Medal and operational campaign medals for the Australian Defence Force, as well as to recognise the service of Defence civilians in declared operational areas. It is awarded as either a military or civilian variant.

### Military version

The military version of the medal has a standard medal design, but ribbons vary by operation. An accumulated service device will be awarded for subsequent qualifying service by ADF members where they undertake further service on an operation for which they have already been awarded the Australian Operational Service Medal.

#### Ribbons

To date, six ribbons for ADF service have been announced:
* The Border Protection ribbon has three equal stripes of dark blue, ochre and dark green which denote the seas and sky, the deserts, and the forests and grasslands.
* The Greater Middle East Operation ribbon has three equal stripes of mid green, black and light blue, edged by two slim stripes of light sand. Sand represents the desert sands, green represents Australia and hope, black represents anti-piracy, and blue represents the maritime and air aspects.
* The Special Operations ribbon is 32 mm wide in black with a central stripe of red. Additional accumulated service is denoted by an 8 mm high Arabic numeral with an antique silver finish.
* The Counter Terrorism/Special Recovery ribbon is 32 mm with black edges, symbolising counter-terrorism operations fading to grey to symbolise the urban nature of operations. The blue stripes, which flank the central white stripe, represent the broader contribution of the Special Operation command staff. The white symbolises the peaceful outcome as a final action.
* The Africa ribbon is 32 mm as a central red stripe, flanked by black stripes of equal width, bordered with golden yellow and White stripes of equal width and edged with mid-green stripes.
* The Indo-Pacific ribbon is 32 mm as a central yellow stripe surrounded by green stripes, which are flanked by light blue stripes. The yellow and light blue stripes are of equal width. The ribbon is edged with deep blue stripes of the same width as the green stripes.

### Civilian version

The Australian Operational Service Medal (Civilian) was established to allow for recognition of Defence civilians, who had agreed to be subject to the Defence Force Discipline Act 1982 and were employed overseas to support the operations of a deployed military force in a declared area of operations. The civilian version uses the same medal design as the military version, but is awarded with a unique civilian ribbon and a clasp denoting the declared operation. Subsequent qualifying service for civilians will be (is) denoted by clasps.
* The Civilian ribbon is green with central stripes of gold and purple. The purple represents Defence, and the green and gold are Australia's national colours.

#### Clasps

Clasps announced (and awarded) to date are listed below.

## Variants for declared operations – Military version
### Australian Operational Service Medal – Border Protection (AOSM-BP)

The variant for border protection operations was announced on 19 July 2012. This variant will be (is) awarded to Australian Defence Force personnel who have served on border protection operations since 1997. The ribbon for the medal is 32 mm wide with a central stripe of ochre flanked by one blue stripe and one green stripe of equal width.
The declared operations are:
| Operation | From | To |
| CRANBERRY | 1 August 1997 | 16 July 2006 |
| DIRK | 1 September 1997 | 31 October 1997 |
| STANHOPE | 3 February 1998 | 6 March 1998 |
| MISTRAL | 1 August 1998 | 30 June 2006 |
| TEEBONE | 8 April 2001 | 7 May 2001 |
| CELESTA | 1 August 2001 | 31 July 2006 |
| SUTTON | 25 January 2002 | 19 February 2002 |
| GEMSBOK | 29 August 2003 | 3 October 2003 |
| RELEX | 3 September 2001 | 13 March 2002 |
| RELEX II | 14 March 2002 | 16 July 2006 |
| RESOLUTE | 17 July 2006 | ongoing |
Personnel who served on naval vessels, maritime patrol aircraft or Regional Force Surveillance Unit patrols whilst assigned to any of these operations may be eligible.
Members of the Australian Defence Force must have served either an aggregate of 30 days either deployed or force assigned as a member of one of the declared operations, or were deployed or force assigned to a declared operation and completed 30 sorties from a unit assigned to the operation, so long as the sorties were conducted over a period of not less than 30 aggregate days with no more than one sortie counted per day.
Members must also have been:
* Deployed at sea directly supporting a declared operation
* Deployed on land or in the air, dedicated in support of a declared operation
* Deployed forward to exclusively support a declared operation.

#### Exclusions

Members are not eligible for an award of the AOSM-BP where an entitlement exists to another Australian medal for the same deployment.
Members are not eligible for an award of the AOSM-BP where the member was part of:
* Headquarters staff at Joint Operations Command;
* Headquarters staff at Northern Command;
* Headquarters staff at Military Strategic Commitments;
* Headquarters staff at Regional Force Surveillance Unit;
* Australian Defence Force staff at Border Protection Command; or
* Base maintainers and support personnel
* Rifle Company Butterworth personnel providing direct support to Border Protection operations via airfield and aircraft security.

### Australian Operational Service Medal – Greater Middle East Operation (AOSM-GMEO)

The eligibility requirements for this medal are:
* 30 days service, continuous or aggregated, on either of the below operations
* The ADF member is force assigned for operational duties.
The declared operations are:
| Operation | From | To |
| MANITOU | 1 July 2014 | ongoing |
| ACCORDION | 1 July 2014 | ongoing |
| HIGHROAD | 1 January 2015 | June 2021 |
| OKRA | 1 January 2015 | 20 December 2024 |
| MAZURKA | 1 November 2023 | ongoing |
| PALADIN | 1 November 2023 | ongoing |
| FORTITUDE | 1 November 2023 | ongoing |
| STEADFAST | 10 September 2018 | ongoing |
| LITTEN | 31 August 2016 4 November 2016 | 21 October 2016 ongoing |
| AUGURY | 4 July 2014 | ongoing |

### Australian Operational Service Medal – Africa (AOSM-A)

The eligibility requirements for this medal are:
* 30 days service, continuous or aggregated, on either of the below operations
* The ADF member is force assigned for operational duties.
The declared operations are:
| Operation | From | To | Notes |
| ASLAN | 1 November 2023 | ongoing | |
| ORENDA | 1 April 2020 | 31 December 2023 | |

### Australian Operational Service Medal – Indo–Pacific (AOSM-IP)

The eligibility requirements for this medal are:
* 30 days service, continuous or aggregated, on either of the below operations
* The ADF member is force assigned for operational duties.
The declared operations are:
| Operation | From | To |
| GATEWAY | 1 July 2005 | ongoing |
| RENDER SAFE | 3 June 2014 | ongoing |
| SAVILLE | 10 November 2014 | ongoing |
| AUGURY | 22 June 2017 | 1 December 2019 |
| ARGOS | 26 April 2018 | ongoing |
| LINESMEN | 16 April 2019 | ongoing |
| LILIA | 25 November 2021 | 31 August 2024 |

## Clasps for declared operations – Civilian version

On 12 December 2012, the Governor-General declared, for the purposes of the Australian Operational Service Medal Regulation 2012, a number of declared operations, and determined the conditions for award of Clasps.

### General conditions for all Clasps include

* awarded to a civilian who was employed for duty on the declared operation for a period of not less than an aggregate of 30 days;

### Specific conditions for each Clasp include

| Theatre | Operation | Declared period | Declared period | Clasp name | Notes |
| Theatre | Operation | from | to | Clasp name | Notes |
| East Timor | TANAGER | 20 February 2000 | 19 May 2002 | EAST TIMOR | |
| East Timor | CITADEL | 20 May 2002 | 19 May 2004 | EAST TIMOR | |
| East Timor | SPIRE | 20 May 2004 | 21 May 2005 | EAST TIMOR | |
| various | SLIPPER | 11 October 2001 | 1 August 2002 | ICAT | |
| various | SLIPPER | 11 October 2001 | 30 July 2009 | ICAT | |
| various | SLIPPER | 31 July 2009 | 19 February 2012 | ICAT | |
| various | SLIPPER | 20 February 2012 | 30 June 2014 | ICAT | |
| Afghanistan | SLIPPER | 1 July 2014 | | ICAT | |
| various | FALCONER | 18 March 2003 | 22 July 2003 | IRAQ 2003 | |
| various | CATALYST | 16 July 2003 | 31 July 2009 | IRAQ 2003 | |
| Solomon Islands | ANODE | 24 July 2003 | 1 August 2013 | SOLOMON IS II | |
| Timor-Leste | ASTUTE | 12 May 2006 | 25 May 2013 | TIMOR-LESTE | |
| various | MANITOU | 1 July 2014 | ongoing | G.M.E. OPS | |
| various | ACCORDION | 1 July 2014 | ongoing | G.M.E. OPS | |
| Various | GATEWAY | 1 July 2015 | ongoing | INDO-PACIFIC | |
| Various | RENDER SAFE | 3 June 2014 | ongoing | INDO-PACIFIC | |
| Various | SAVILLE | 10 November 2014 | ongoing | INDO-PACIFIC | |
| Philippines | AUGURY | 22 June 2017 | 1 December 2019 | INDO-PACIFIC | |
| Korea | ARGOS | 26 April 2018 | ongoing | INDO-PACIFIC | |
| South Korea | LINESMEN | 16 April 2019 | ongoing | INDO-PACIFIC | |
| Solomon Islands | LILIA | 25 November 2021 | 31 August 2024 | INDO-PACIFIC | |