Deployments Post 1 Apr 1974

Today 11 declarations of Qualifying Operational Service have been announced. The declarations cover deployments with new or extended coverage, deployments with multiple declarations that have now been consolidated, and deployments that previously had no end date.

Deployments with new or extended coverage

Now, regardless of mission or operation, veterans are eligible for support from Veterans’ Affairs if they served in:

• the Sinai Peninsula — between 25 April 1982 and 30 September 2022
• the Indian Ocean on HMNZS Canterbury or HMNZS Waikato while under the operational command of the Royal Navy Task Group — between 21 June 1982 and 20 September 1983
• Cambodia — between 1 October 1991 and 30 April 2005
• Somalia — between 1 September 2011 and 30 April 2016.

Other changes

The following deployments, which were already covered by Veterans’ Affairs, previously had no end date or had multiple declarations that have now been consolidated.

• Syria — between 1 April 1974 and 30 September 2022
• Lebanon — between 1 April 1978 and 30 September 2022
• Iraq — between 1 July 1988 and 30 June 2022
• Angola — between 1 July 1991 and 30 June 1999
• Somalia — between 1 January 1993 and 31 March 1995
• Sierra Leone — between 1 August 1998 and 30 June 2005
• South Sudan — between 9 July 2011 and 30 June 2022
• Mali — between 1 March 2018 and 31 March 2019.

The announcement comes following the conclusion of this part of our deployment review project. As part of the project, we are reviewing deployments since 1 April 1974 to determine if they should be considered Qualifying Operational Service. This is to ensure that support is available to those who the Government intended us to support through the Veterans’ Support Act 2014.

Today’s announcement will affect around 1,300 people. While some already qualify for support from other deployments, for others this will be the first time they are able to receive support from Veterans’ Affairs.