New Zealand Special Service Medal

New Zealand Special Service Medal
Obverse and reverse of the medal
Awarded by  New Zealand
Type	Service medal
Eligibility	Special services under Regulations that the Governor-General of New Zealand, acting on the advice of the Prime Minister or a Minister of the Crown acting for the Prime Minister, may determine.
Status	Currently awarded
Precedence
Next (higher)	New Zealand campaign medals (In order of award)
Next (lower)	Polar Medal
New Zealand Special Service Medal (Nuclear Testing) ribbon bar New Zealand Special Service Medal (Asian Tsunami) ribbon bar New Zealand Special Service Medal (Erebus) ribbon bar

The New Zealand Special Service Medal (NZSSM) was established by royal warrant by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand on 23 July 2002. The medal serves to recognize military service that would not otherwise be recognized by a Campaign medal.

The circular medal is made of gold plated base-metal. The obverse depicts the New Zealand Coat of Arms. The reverse, depicts a bouquet of flowers native to New Zealand. This bouquet has fern fronds and flowers of the Pohutukawa, Manuka, Kowhai, and Mount Cook Lily. Across the base of the bouquet is a scroll bearing the words "FOR SPECIAL SERVICE". This design is shared by all three medals.

The medal is suspended from a ribbon is 32 mm wide. The ribbon design varies based on the conditions under which the medal is awarded.

The NZSSM (Nuclear Testing) is a retrospective award, established 24 July 2002, presented to personnel who were part of a New Zealand Government presence at atmospheric nuclear tests in the 1950s and one in 1973. The tests recognized by this medal were at:

The ribbon of this medal has black, white, red and crimson stripes at the left side with an orange center stripe and crimson, red, white and black stripes at the right side.

The NZSSM (Asian Tsunami) was established on 22 December 2005 to recognize service in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. It recognizes a minimum of 7 days service from 26 December 2004 to 28 February 2005, or a minimum of 14 days from 26 December 2004 to 26 December 2005. Qualifying service is relief, recovery and reconstruction in affected countries. Countries affected where New Zealand citizens served were Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, Seychelles, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Thailand.

The ribbon of this medal has eleven vertical stripes of equal width in of red, white, blue, orange, green, yellow, green, orange, blue, white, and red. These colors are representative of the national flags of the countries affected by the tsunami.