During her voyages to South Vietnam, "Sydney" transported 16,902 soldiers, 5,753 deadweight tons of cargo, 2,375 vehicles, and 14 aircraft. Initially, personnel from "Sydney", the other transport ships, and their escorts, could not claim time served on logistics or escort deployments towards the active service requirements of the Vietnam Medal, the Australian Active Service Medal, or the Returned From Active Service Badge: the Department of Defence had attempted to limit the cost of repatriation benefits by taking the stance that these ships were not eligible as they were not in combat. Following numerous campaigns to change this, the Australian government issued the Returned from Active Service Badge to all these personnel in 1986, and allowed them to receive military service pensions. Further campaigning and legal challenges resulted in the creation of the Vietnam Logistic and Support Medal in 1992, which was presented as a campaign medal to personnel who did not meet the requirements for the Vietnam Medal, but were still involved in the conflict. Similar efforts were made to have "Sydney"s service recognised with a battle honour: according to Nott and Payne, such a battle honour is yet to be awarded as of 2008, although a 2006 Department of Defence press release lists the honour "Vietnam 1965–72" among those awarded to the ship. The battle honour was confirmed in an updated list released in March 2010.