‘Sense of betrayal’: the peaceful Scandinavian country prepares for war

At an icy shooting range in western Denmark, rows of blonde ponytails poke out of camouflaged helmets, while pale blue eyes focus on moving targets.

A platoon of young military recruits is taught how to shoot in the field.

Now feeling threatened on two fronts, Denmark turns to an unexpected new weapon – teenage girls – to help defend the kingdom.

Among the new troops is Mary Petersen, barely five feet tall, who fires her shots with the precision of a seasoned soldier.

“Personally, I really enjoy taking photographs,” she says Foreign correspondentas he shook off the recoil of the gun.

“It requires focus and quick switching between targets. It’s a pretty cool skill.”

Currently grappling with threats from an old enemy, Russia, and an old ally, America, Denmark has made compulsory military service for women for the first time in its history.

Every 18-year-old Dane, male or female, must now register for military service.

“We are nothing special because we are women. When we put on our uniform, we are all soldiers, there is no gender gap,” says Ms. Petersen.

‘We have to reach as many people as possible [in the military]. We just have to be ready for what they think we should be ready for.”

The growing threat of war

US President Donald Trump’s threats to take Greenland, an autonomous region of Denmark in the Arctic, have shocked the Danes.

“There is a sense of betrayal in both Denmark and Greenland,” says former chief analyst at the Danish Defense Intelligence Service Jacob Kaarsbo.

The unexpected threat from the NATO alliance comes at a time when the Danes believe the threat from Vladimir Putin’s Russia is also growing.

The country’s intelligence service has warned that Russia could be militarily ready for a regional war within two years.

It says Russia’s willingness to attack NATO depends, among other things, on the end of the war in Ukraine or on it turning into a “frozen conflict.”

“It is a precarious position and we are under pressure from both the east and the west and we have to deal with that,” says Kaarsbo.

The Danish government is responding by investing billions of dollars in increasing its defense capabilities and getting more boots on the ground.

There is a sense of urgency in the process.

The country has accelerated conscription for women by 18 months and has also almost tripled the length of military service to 11 months.

Sidse Aagard, known by her platoon as ‘Copenhagen’ after the area she comes from, has been in military service for three months.

She has thought about the possibility of going to war.

“When I first started, I thought it might be a bit scary, because of course I don’t want war,” she says.

“If my country demands me to fight for them, yes, I would.”

Her military training was challenging, but it also paid off.

“When my body and mind say ‘Stop,’ you can’t stop. So you just have to keep going and you discover that you really can,” says Ms. Aagard.

In her army barracks, male and female soldiers share the same sleeping quarters.

She is one of two women in a nine-person dormitory, and when they are on duty, phones are not allowed.

“I knew I would have to live with more men. I have two brothers,” she says.

“Of course some men are stronger. So some of the things we have to do, we know men do this, we can do this, and that’s not a bad thing.

“But I think women are really thinking about how we can do it right. That’s what we want to do [it] right the first time.”

After living and training with women for three months, 19-year-old Johannes Jensen believes that mandatory military service for both sexes is the right move.

“I think now is a good time for me to do this. Part of me has always wanted to protect Denmark… [from] the bad things of the world. Russia for example.”

In Denmark, military service has been mandatory for men since 1849.

Women have been able to volunteer since 1998 and made up 24 percent of conscripts in 2024.

“I’ve been to Iraq and Afghanistan and I’ve had women as combat soldiers. They’ve performed as well as any of the men,” says Denmark’s head of conscription, Col. Kenneth Strøm.

“I think the diversity, having different perspectives on solving the operational task, that’s what we’re really strong at.”

Colonel Strøm says the expansion of conscription is ultimately a political decision, but the rationale is clear.

“It is clear that based on the current security situation, we need more and faster combat power,” he said.

‘We will prepare Denmark as a difficult target. It would hurt you if you tried to attack it.”

Willing and not-so-willing recruits

At a recruitment center in Slagelse, about an hour’s drive from the capital Copenhagen, blue-eyed teenagers in hoodies scroll through the hallways, waiting for their names to be called.

Every 18-year-old Dane must undergo physical examinations, including vision and hearing, and take a written exam testing their logic and problem-solving skills to see if they are fit for duty.

Volunteers are hired first, but if the military doesn’t get enough people to volunteer, it becomes a lottery to determine who becomes a soldier and who doesn’t.

Potential recruits draw numbers from a raffle drum; the lower the number, the greater the chance of being called up.

Nineteen-year-old Isabella has passed all the tests.

The former dancer will soon trade in her fake eyelashes and sparkly nails for green and brown fatigues and eleven months of military training.

“My immediate family, especially my grandparents, think it’s a bit dangerous,” says Isabella.

“At first they said, ‘It’s a man thing, it can be very dangerous.’ They realized they just couldn’t talk me out of it, so they decided to support me.

“[But] I’ve thought about it a lot. I think you have to, otherwise you are not mentally prepared to go into the army.”

Conscription is taken seriously by the Danish authorities.

Recruits who fail to show up for assessment are fined and may even be arrested by police and escorted to recruitment centers.

“Once or twice a month the police bring someone here,” says Chief Sergeant Steffen Sørensen, who coordinates recruitment at the Slagelse center.

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Norway and Sweden are the only other European countries with compulsory military service for both men and women.

But with Europe on high alert against rising Russian belligerence and signs that US support for NATO is waning, other countries are reconsidering the way they recruit military recruits.

From this year onwards, all 18-year-old German men must indicate whether they are willing to join the armed forces. From the middle of next year they will have to undergo a medical examination.

France has introduced 10 months of voluntary military training for 18- and 19-year-olds, and Italy is considering doing something similar.

Isabella sees no other option for Denmark.

‘When I first heard that Trump was threatening to invade Greenland, I was sure it was a publicity stunt. But then things started to get serious and the threats became more real,” she says.

“And I wasn’t the only one with that feeling. When I saw people starting to protest in Copenhagen, I felt a sense of nationalism.

“That gave me a sense of security: when I join the military, I am joining a fighting force of a country that is truly and deeply loved by its people, and that I will not fight in vain.”

While some of her friends under the age of 18 are reluctant and even angry about compulsory military service, Isabella believes it is essential.

“The whole world is such an unstable place right now, so I think recruiting women, and increasing the number we recruit, is mandatory otherwise we wouldn’t be able to prepare for the future.”

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