The Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Fo ...

. It is awarded for distinguished command and leadership in action. The DSC was introduced in 1991 and is the highest distinguished service decoration in the

Australian Honours System The Australian honours and awards system refers to all Order (distinction), orders, decorations, and medals, as instituted by letters patent from the Monarchy of Australia, Monarch of Australia and countersigned by the Australian prime minister a ...

. Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross are entitled to use the

post-nominal letters Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, ...

"DSC". Since its inception 115 awards have been made—which includes eight first Bars and one second

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar ( ...

Government allowance

The

Government of Australia The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Governmen ...

may grant an allowance to veterans or serving members of the

who have been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, or other awards for gallantry. In November 2007, this allowance was A$2.10 per fortnight.

Description

The Distinguished Service Cross is described as: "...a modified

Maltese Cross The Maltese cross is a cross symbol, consisting of four " V" or arrowhead shaped concave quadrilaterals converging at a central vertex at right angles, two tips pointing outward symmetrically. It is a heraldic cross variant which develope ...

of nickel-silver ensigned with the Crown of St Edward. The obverse bears a

Federation Star The Commonwealth Star (also known as the Federation Star, the Seven Point Star, or the Star of Federation) is a seven-pointed star symbolising the Federation of Australia which came into force on 1 January 1901. Six points of the Star represent ...

surmounted on a disc of flames. The medal has a nickel-silver suspender bar. The medal ribbon has a central ochre-red stripe surrounded by narrower silver-blue stripes."

Distinct recipients

Since its inception, eight bars have been awarded; ;One Bar * Colonel V, DSC & Bar – Citation: For distinguished command and leadership in action as a commanding officer on

Operation Slipper The Australian contribution to the war in Afghanistan has been known as Operation Slipper (2001–2014) and Operation Highroad (2015-2021). Australian Defence Force (ADF) operations and the size of the forces deployed have varied and ADF invol ...

in Afghanistan in June 2009. * Lieutenant Colonel P, DSC & Bar – Citation: For distinguished command and leadership in action. * Major General Michael Peter Crane, DSC & Bar, AM – Citation: distinguished command and leadership in warlike operations as the Commander of Joint Task Force 633 on Operation SLIPPER from October 2012 to September 2013. * Lieutenant Colonel F, DSC & Bar – Citation: For distinguished command and leadership in warlike operations during Operation SLIPPER. * Brigadier Daniel Fortune, DSC & Bar – Citation: for distinguished command and leadership in warlike operations on Operation SLIPPER. * Brigadier John William Shanahan, DSC & Bar, AM, OBE – Citation: For distinguished command and leadership in warlike operations as the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Resolute Support Headquarters Chief of Operations and as Commanding General Train Advise Assist Command – South in Afghanistan from September 2017 to February 2019. ;Two Bars * Lieutenant Colonel Ian Langford, DSC & Two Bars. Originally reported as "Lieutenant Colonel I" due to Special Forces protocols for name suppression. First citation: For distinguished command and leadership in warlike operations as Commanding Officer of Special Operations Task Group on

. Second Citation: For distinguished leadership in warlike operations as part of a Special Operations Force on Operation OKRA from September 2014 to February 2015.

References

{{Australian Honours System Military awards and decorations of Australia * 1991 establishments in Australia Awards established in 1991

Government allowance

Description

Distinct recipients

See also

References