Australian Operational Service Medal Greater Middle East Operation

This medal recognises service on Operations MANITOU, ACCORDION and OKRA from 1 July 2014, and service on Operation HIGHROAD from 1 January 2015.

Eligible Service

A summary of eligible service is:

• 30 days service, continuous or aggregated, on any of the above operations; and
• the Defence member is force assigned for operational duties.

The following are the current declared operations and dates:

Commenced on 1 July 2014 a declared operation comprising of the following operations in the following areas:

Operation MANITOU

• 1 July 2014 to 13 May 2015 within the area comprising all waters, ports, areas within 10 kilometres of such ports, and superjacent airspace, of the following:
• The Persian Gulf
• The Gulf of Aden
• The Red Sea
• The Arabian Sea

so far as the area is north of latitude 11°00'S and west of longitude 68°00'E.

• 14 May 2015 onwards, within the area comprising all waters, ports, areas within 10 kilometres of such ports, and superjacent airspace, of the following:
• The Persian Gulf
• The Gulf of Aden
• The Red Sea
• The Arabian Sea

so far as the area is north of latitude 11°00'S and west of longitude 70°00'E.

Operation ACCORDION

• 1 July 2014 onwards, within the area compromising the land, territory, internal waters and superjacent airspace of Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Operation OKRA

• 1 July 2014 to 8 August 2014 within the area compromising the land territory, internal waters, territorial seas and superjacent airspace of Bahrain, Qatar, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates as the water and superjacent airspace of the Persian Gulf; and
• 9 August 2014 onwards, within the area compromising the land territory, internal waters, territorial seas and superjacent airspace of Albania, Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Montenegro, Poland, Qatar, Romania and the United Arab Emirates and the waters and superjacent airspace of the Persian Gulf.
• 9 September 2015 onwards, within the area compromising the land territory, territorial seas and superjacent airspace of Iraq and Syria; and
• 15 November 2018 within the area compromising the land territory, internal waters, territorial seas and superjacent airspace of Bahrain, Cyprus, Jordan, Kuwait, the Persian Gulf, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and the land territory of Turkey east of longitude 35°00'E

Operation HIGHROAD

• 1 January 2015 onwards, within the area compromising the land territory, internal waters and superjacent airspace of Afghanistan.

Amendments

The amendments allow for Allied Foreign Defence Force members to be eligible for the medal, and for the medal to be issued to Defence members on Third Country Deployments.

See Instrument for full criteria [PDF]

Medal

The medal is a cupro-nickel medal finished in antique silver. The obverse bears an old-world stylised world globe signifying global operations, interlinked with a Federation Star. The globe is surrounded by the words ‘AUSTRALIAN OPERATIONAL SERVICE MEDAL’.

The reverse bears a central horizontal stylised scroll with the words ‘Defending Australia and its national interests’, overlaying a wreath of mimosa, above which sits an hour glass motif signifying the ongoing vigilance and timely response of Defence.

Accumulated Service Device

An ADF member on a second or subsequent deployment to Operations may be awarded an accumulated service device on completion of the prescribed qualifying period.

Ribbon

The colours of the ribbon have been chosen to represent specific aspects of the Greater Middle East Operation. Bone to represent sand, green to represent Australia and hope, black to represent anti-piracy and blue to represent the maritime and air aspects.