This was the hardest Vietnam era medal to earn as it required at least 181 days "special service" in Vietnam, unless terminated by battle casualty. As a Foreign Award it is ranked junior to all Australian Awards.

Name of Award: Vietnamese Campaign Medal
Description of Ribbon: Green with three vertical white stripes. Date cluster "1960-" worn centrally on ribbon with straight sides of scroll perpendicular.
Clasp or Emblem Worn (if Awarded)
Nil

Conditions of Award Awarded by the Government of the Republic of Vietnam. "Special Service" totalling at least 181 days in South Vietnam, unless terminated by a Battle Casualty.
Period: 31 July 1962 to 28 March 1973.

Assented to in 1961. There are three approved Clasps for this medal, South Vietnam, Borneo and Malay Peninsula, each with respective qualifying areas and periods.
Name of Award: General Service Medal 1962 with Clasp, South Vietnam
Description of Ribbon: Purple with green edges
Clasp or Emblem Worn (if Awarded)
Mention In Despatches
Conditions of Award
30 days service in South Vietnam between 24 December 1962 and 28 May 1964. Awarded only to members of Australian Army Training Team, Vietnam.

Name of Award: Vietnam Logistic and Support Medal
Description of Ribbon
Three narrow red stripes on a broad central yellow band. Bordered on the left by a red stripe with an inner dark blue stripe. Bordered on the right by a light blue stripe with an inner stripe of dark brown.
Clasp or Emblem Worn (if Awarded)
Nil
Conditions of Award
Awarded to members of the Australian Armed Forces who rendered service in support of the Australian Armed Forces in operations in Vietnam between 29 May 1964 and 27 January 1973. May also be awarded to Accredited Civilian War Correspondents, Australian Entertainers, Civilian Surgical Aid Teams, Civilian Defence Contractors, QANTAS Flight Crew and members of the Merchant Navy, who rendered service in support of the Australian Armed Forces in Vietnam. Actual service within Vietnam is required.
Persons eligible for the Vietnam Medal are not eligible for the Vietnam Logistic and Support Medal.

Agreed to in early 1971
Name of Award: Australian Army Infantry Combat Badge
Description of Badge:
The badge, finished in bronze, is in the form of a (vertically mounted Australian Army SLR) bayonet surrounded by (an oval shaped) laurel wreath. It is approximately 28 mm wide and fixed to the uniform by means of pins and clutch grips.
Clasp or Emblem Worn (if Awarded)
Nil
Conditions of Award
Except as provided in the following, the Infantry Combat Badge may only be awarded to a serving member of the Australian Army who has given, either continuous or aggregate, 90 days satisfactory service as an infantryman in operations.
Service as an infantryman means service as a member of the Royal Australian Infantry Corps in an infantry posting in an Australian Infantry Battalion, Independent Rifle Company, Commando Company, Special Air Service Regiment, or other such Australian unit as may be designated by the Chief of General Staff.
Operations is defined as service in a war or campaign in respect of which a campaign star or medal is awarded.
Special circumstances exist where members of other Corps may be awarded the badge. These are dealt with on a case by case basis by an Infantry Combat Badge Committee. These "special circumstances" are not dealt with here in these notes.
Wearing of the Badge
The Infantry Combat Badge is worn on the left breast, centrally placed one (1) cm immediately above the medal ribbons or medals. The Badge is worn with the bayonet pointing upwards and is not to be polished.

The Returned from Active Service Badge in its present form, has been awarded to eligible service personnel since 1939. The only significant change occurred when the current Queen's crown replaced that of her fathers'. It continues to be awarded today in conjunction with the Australian Active Service Medal where service qualifies for the award of this medal, eg Kuwait and Somalia and is being issued for current service in areas such as East Timor, today.
Returned from Active Service Badges have a unique serial number on their reverse side. This is a manufacturing number, and is not related to Service Numbers. For World War Two soldiers, these serial numbers were recorded in the Individuals Service Records and were also recorded on the Individual's Certificate of Discharge.
The badges are awarded by the Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Mercantile Marine, and have a letter prefixed to the serial number to identify the branch of the service by which it was issued:
A = Army; AF = Air Force; N = Navy; MN = Merchant Navy.
The words "Issued by the C'wlth Govt" are moulded on the back of the badge along the boomerang on Vietnam era badges.
Name of Award: Returned from Active Service Badge
Description of Badge:
This badge combines the emblems of all services together in the following manner. A centrally placed Crown mounted above a chain and anchor which in turn rests in the middle of an up turned boomerang. A raising sun badge sits behind the crown which in turn is placed in front of a pair of RAAF wings. The words, "Returned from Active Service Badge" are inscribed into the front of the boomerang.
Clasp or Emblem Worn (if Awarded)
Nil
Conditions of Award, (Australian Army)
Service in Vietnam (Southern Zone) between 31 July 1962 and 27 January 1973.

Name of Award: Anniversary of National Service 1951 - 1972 Medal
Description of Ribbon:
Clasp or Emblem Worn (if Awarded)
Nil
Conditions of Award
To be issued to all "National Service" personnel called up for national service under various conscription schemes during the period January 1951 to December 1972. Eligibility for the medal will be dependent upon individuals having completed their national service obligation under either schemes put in place during the above period.
General Comments
It is a new commemorative medal only, not a service medal!
It has been stuck to mark the 50th anniversary of the introduction of universal conscription in 1951. Its issue is controversial and is considered by some as a political whim to keep a small vocal pressure group "happy".

Download the forms needed to apply for your national Service medal here.

The Australian Military Forces, Certificate of Discharge, form AAF-A 16, as issued through the late 1960's and early 1970's to Vietnam Era Army Personnel is very much a thing of the past.

This Certificate has now been replaced by The Australian Army, Certificate of Service.

You, as the original recipient, may apply for the replacement of lost decorations, medals, Returned from Active Service Badges, and your "Certificate of Discharge".

If your were also in Infantry Corps and an Infantry man, who served in an Infantry unit and fit the criteria attached to the Infantry Combat Badge, you may also, as the original recipient, apply for the issue or replacement of the Combat badge also. See details above.

Where a soldier has pre-deceased the issue of an additional award, eg. The Australian Army Active Service Medal, 1945-75 with Clasp, Vietnam, then Next-Of-Kin may apply on behalf of that soldier for the issue of such an Award to them.

The application form(s) that we have provided on this web page (below), as released by the Australian Department of Defence in July 1996 cover all the various scenarios that affect the lost, damage and issue of Awards and Decorations to soldiers and /or their Next-Of-Kin.

CARO is not authorised to provide you with an updated Certificate of Service, as the current policy directs that Certificates of Service are not to be re-issued unless they are incorrect due to an administrative error generated by the issuing agency. The award of medals subsequent to the issue of your Certificate of service is not considered an administrative error.

CARO does, however, provide a range of other services to the ex-service community. These include the provision of:

statements of service,
copies of service records for genealogical or historical purposes,
copies of specific documents for employment and/or welfare purposes,
information for eulogies or commemorative purposes etc.

Under the "Their Service, Our Heritage" scheme, the Federal Government, through local members has announced a "Certificate of Appreciation in Recognition of Service to Australia during the Vietnam War".
The application form is available as a Word document (below), should Vietnam Veterans want to obtain a copy of this certificate for their themselves, children or grand children. In a few instances, local federal members actually present these certificates to individual veterans.
The application for this certificate is submitted through local federal members of parliament.

1. Visits and Inspections, on duty, totalling 30 days count towards service for most stars and medals.
2. Operational Service Terminated by death, wounds, or other disability due to service, qualifies as full service for most stars and medals.