As a Lieutenant Colonel Dibden commanded the 7th Combat Service Support Battalion and was briefly deployed to East Timor.
[4] In November 2019, Dibden rejoined the regular Army for a final deployment, as he was nominated and accepted a posting as the Coordinating Chaplain for the Australian Defence Force in the Middle East Region, where he served for 2 months over the 2019 Christmas period.
[3] On 11 February 2020, Dibden was appointed by the then Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia, Philip Freier and Chief of the Defence Force, Angus Campbell, as Anglican Bishop to the Australian Defence Force, replacing Bishop Ian Lambert who had retired in 2019.
[1] He also has responsibilities for recruiting military chaplains, making sure they are a good fit, and helping them transition back to their dioceses when they leave the service.
Although as Bishop he cannot be a member of the Australian Defence Force,[4] in the role he holds a rank equivalent to a major general.