The New Zealand Distinguished Service Decoration:
CLARK, Captain Brendon John
For services to the New Zealand Defence Force
Captain Brendon Clark has served with the Royal New Zealand Navy since 1992 and trained as a Seaman Officer, serving operationally on a range of warships and in staff positions across the New Zealand Defence Force.
In July 2021, Captain Clark was deployed to Bahrain as Commander of the Combined Task Force 150 (CTF150), which operates under the umbrella of the United States Naval Command, uniting 34 nations to conduct Maritime Security Operations in the Middle East Region. At a lower rank than is normally set for the role, he commanded CTF150 for a period of six months, contributing to a record-breaking year of drug seizures in the Middle East region. He was fundamental in developing the capacity and capability of numerous regional countries through a demanding and varied leadership engagement programme. Captain Clark's pragmatic approach impacted on the primary funding streams of terrorist organisations with 14 successful interdictions, netting 2,486kg of heroin, 11,467kg of hashish, 1,578kg of methamphetamine and 16kg of Captagon pills, which was a first for the Combined Maritime Force.
The New Zealand Distinguished Service Decoration:
SERVICEMAN L
For services to the New Zealand Defence Force
Serviceman L was the officer in charge of a Special Operations Task Unit that was rapidly deployed to Afghanistan in August 2021 to conduct a non-combatant evacuation operation.
After the violent takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, the New Zealand Government committed to evacuate New Zealand citizens and approved foreign nationals. Serviceman L led a team of special forces operators, required to complete immediate mobilisation to be on the ground at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan within 48 hours. On arrival at Hamid Karzai International Airport, before turning his attention to rescuing evacuees, he negotiated security procedures and established key evacuation processes amid a frantic and deteriorating security environment. He and his team managed to rescue 36 New Zealand citizens and approved foreign nationals in the first 24 hours. On discovering a further large number of New Zealand evacuees, he was able to leverage multiple networks and worked a number of sensitive pathways to evacuate these people as well. Entering a dire situation with no existing New Zealand presence in Afghanistan, Serviceman L was able to lead the Special Operations Task Unit to save numerous lives and returning them to safety.
The New Zealand Distinguished Service Decoration:
SMITH, Sergeant Hayden Peter
For services to the New Zealand Defence Force
Sergeant Hayden Smith has served with the Royal New Zealand Air Force since 2011 in the Communications and Information Systems trade and has served on a number of operations as a technician supporting data systems used by the New Zealand Defence Force nationally and internationally.
Sergeant Smith has been involved in the Frigate Systems Upgrade project, designing and creating a dataflow capability that can support future planned intelligence collection capabilities by military units. This has been critical in operationalising the project and integrating $26 million worth of sensors with the wider New Zealand Defence Force, other government agencies and partner nations. He completed the majority of this work as a Corporal and personally solved a complex issue that partner nations were struggling to resolve with dedicated teams. Resolution of this issue has allowed the international intelligence community to share information with improved dataflow processes and the United Kingdom has subsequently adopted this capability. Sergeant Smith has provided positive outcomes at both national and international levels, enhancing the reputation of the New Zealand Defence Force and New Zealand.