The ADF comprises three Services: the Royal Australian Navy (Navy), Australian Army (Army) and the Royal Australian Air Force (Air Force). An individual can serve in more than one Service during their ADF service and individuals can transfer between Services throughout their career. This section describes the Service at the time of separation.
In line with the distribution of ADF members across the three Services, the majority (68%) of ex-serving members had separated from the Army. The proportions who had separated from the Navy and Air Force were similar at 16% each.
Table 3: Ex-serving members by Service, as of 31 December 2019
|
Service
|
Males
(Number)
|
Males
(Per cent)
|
Females
(Number)
|
Females
(Per cent)
|
Persons
(Number)
|
Persons
(Per cent)
|
|
Navy
|
35,046
|
16.0
|
7,366
|
17.9
|
42,412
|
16.3
|
|
Army
|
150,966
|
68.8
|
25,704
|
62.4
|
176,670
|
67.8
|
|
Air Force
|
33,399
|
15.2
|
8,143
|
19.8
|
41,542
|
15.9
|
|
Total ex-serving
|
219,411
|
100.0
|
41,213
|
100.0
|
260,624
|
100.0
|
Source: AIHW analysis of linked Defence Historical Personnel data–PMKeyS–NDI data 1985–2019.
Those who had separated from the Air Force were generally older than other members. Almost seven in ten (69%) of ex-serving members of the Air Force were aged 50 years and over compared with 50% of ex-serving members of the Navy and 48% ex-serving members of the Army.