The New Zealand Armed Forces Award was instituted on 6 May 1985, for award to Regular Force officers of the New Zealand military who have completed fifteen years unblemished service. Eligibility for the award was backdated to Regular Force officers serving on or after 1 December 1977, to include officers who had left the New Zealand military between 1 December 1977 and 5 May 1985.

The date of 1 December 1977 was chosen because this was the effective date that the United Kingdom had modified the Royal Warrants for the long service awards for their non-commissioned ranks and non-regular force personnel, to produce common eligibility conditions in all three British military Services. When the New Zealand Royal Warrants for the New Zealand long service awards for New Zealand non-commissioned ranks and non-regular force personnel were approved in 1985, to produce common eligibility conditions in all three New Zealand military Services, the New Zealand Government decided that 1 December 1977 would be the appropriate date to backdate these awards to, and that this would also be the appropriate date to which to backdate eligibility for The New Zealand Armed Forces Award.