Canberra's Commodore Charles McHardie says one of the joys of leading Combined Task Force 150 from December 2012 to April last year was knowing you made a difference.

An effort drawing on the resources of many nations, the task force patrols the Horn of Africa region and the North Arabia Sea.

Up to 15 ships are on station at a time and their job is to identify, stop, board and inspect "suspect" shipping in these areas.

Commodore McHardie, a former commander of HMAS Manoora, said primary targets were vessels aiding terrorists and drug runners. With strong links between the two activities, these can be one and the same.

The Commodore has been awarded a Commendation for Distinguished Service in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.

Based in Bahrain for the duration, Commodore McHardie was in close contact with the vessels under his command and was as concerned as anybody in the field when a boarding party was dispatched.

"You never knew what the boarding party was going to find," he said. "You would use the intelligence you had to hand, make a risk assessment and then observe (very closely). Once the boarding party got on board you would rely on the judgment of the ship's CO and that of the boarding party officer."

Commodore McHardie was on station at a very busy time, during which there was a major crackdown on drug smuggling out of Pakistan and down into Tanzania, Kenya and along the East Africa coast.

"Doing a job like this does reinforce your views on the evils of drugs,'' he said. "I used to tell my people that while there were lots of operations they could be involved in this one produced really tangible results."

While the Horn of Africa may seem a long way from Afghanistan, there were close links between the work Australian troops were doing destroying opium caches there and CTF 150. Much of the heroin floated down the African coast aboard dhows and other vessels originates from Afghanistan and western Pakistan.

Once it hits Africa it is broken up for reshipment to Europe, America and Australia.

"It was a good feeling to know that the heroin we stopped would not be reaching Australia."

He had made the same point in a media interview at the time of his return to Australia in April last year.

"We have had an exceptionally rewarding deployment," he said. "Our successes have significantly impacted the hip pocket of international terrorist operations."

The task force seized more than 2000 kilograms of heroin in 2013.

Other highlights of the tour included the seizure of 1500 kilograms of hashish off the Gulf of Oman and 300 kilograms off the Gulf of Aden.

Now the director general of the Australian Defence Simulation and Training Centre at Bungendore, Commodore McHardie is about to sink his teeth into the planning for next year's Exercise Talisman Sabre.

He said it was an honour to be awarded the Distinguished Service Commendation, which reflected the efforts of his entire team.