Simon Strombom was born in Taranaki and attended New Plymouth Boys High. He now lives in Wellington. In 2008, as a Major in the Territorial Forces, he was deployed to Afghanistan as a Liaison Officer between NATO forces and the Afghan Government as part of the New Zealand contribution to the NATO led International Stabilisation Assistance Force (ISAF). He was awarded the Distinguished Service Decoration in the 2009 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for exemplary conduct in relation to his work with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).