Two Navy personnel received Queen's Birthday Honours for 2008. In addition a number of New Zealand Army and Royal New Zealand Air Force personnel were also awarded for their services.
To be a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM):
Commander Peter Graeme SULLIVAN
Royal New Zealand Navy
Commander Sullivan has served in Headquarters NZDF as the Director of Naval Engineering since 2003. Shortly after taking up this appointment, he also assumed the role of naval programme manager for Project Protector. What started out as a part-time and secondary role quickly developed into a very demanding fulltime responsibility. A distinct feature of the project was that all of the ships, their systems and equipment were based on commercial designs.
He quickly became the torchbearer of navigating through a maze of international maritime classification rules and statutory regulations to ensure that the Navy was compliant against best commercial standards, while at the same time gaining a capability that could be used to maximum potential in a military context.
He also had the responsibility for coordinating the specialised military guidance provided to the Ministry of Defence. This was a demanding project, with many internal and external stakeholders to please, an aggressive timeline to meet and requiring deft skill to ensure a capability was delivered that met contractual and operational requirements and was within budget.
In addition through much of 2007, he had to continue to discharge his Director of Naval Engineering responsibilities on his own, as two subordinate positions were vacant due to personnel resource shortfalls.
To receive the Distinguished Service Decoration (DSD):
Warrant Officer Weapon Technician Wayne Robert MORRIS
Royal New Zealand Navy
Warrant Officer Morris was seconded in April 2006 to the Ministry of Defence Project Protector team in the Netherlands to work on the Magazine and Armament inspections of Canterbury. During this process, he discovered significant shortcomings in the ship builders’ provisions for the Magazines.
He carried out detailed work to clearly identify the shortcomings to the contractor, providing in depth expertise on the issues of non-compliance that had to be addressed. His efforts allowed the Ministry of Defence to promptly take up this matter with the builder and achieve contractual compliance. In October 2006, he became part of the commissioning crew of Canterbury in the role of Deputy Weapons Engineering Officer.
He worked long hours, many in his own time, in the weeks preceding ship delivery, providing the Ministry of Defence with advice on the installation and set to work of the Armament systems, as well as making the required preparations for delivery of the ship to the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). He demonstrated outstanding leadership to achieve a pass in the rigorous RNZN Safety and Readiness checks process; and often under pressure, he ensured that his department provided the highest level of professional service and equipment availability to the Command.