For 18-year-old Piper Harper, taking the oath was almost a decade in the making in her dream of following in her uncle's footsteps serving in the Australian Army.
"He told me what to expect, what it was like overseas, and I just think it's really amazing what he has done for this country," Ms Harper said.
From marching, firing a rifle, and learning the customs and traditions of the Australian Defence Force, Ms Harper completed her four-week induction with flying colours and is now an officer cadet at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA).
She is one of a growing crop of young women pursuing a career in defence.
By 2023, the ADF has a target of increasing female participation by 25 per cent for the Navy and Airforce and 15 per cent for the Army.
The Women in ADF Report for 2017–18 is expected to be published in the first quarter of this year.
Trends show in the past 12 months female participation had risen by 3.6 per cent.
In the same period, women serving in the ADF increased by 652 with eight more women in senior officer positions.
Director General Defence Recruiting Air Commodore Sue McGready said they were well on track to achieving the goal, but stressed the targets had not compromised the quality of recruits.
"We had more women join last year than we did in previous years so we had about 30 per cent of all entries into the defence force last year were women," she said.
"We don't expect that we will have women in there for any reason other than they really want to pursue a career in the defence roles and that they are more than capable of doing them."
While defence has dedicated plenty of time trying to debunk the myths associated with the sector, Air Commodore McGready said attracting women to combat roles remained a challenge.
"We are hoping that the way society conditions women in the future is that they see that any role is achievable if they set their mind to it," she said.
And that has certainly been the case for Piper Harper.
"If you want to do it you should just do it; if you are afraid that's even more of a reason to just push thorough," Ms Harper said.
