On a freezing gun range in western Denmark, rows of blonde ponytails poke out of camouflaged helmets, as pale blue eyes lock on moving targets.
A platoon of young military recruits is learning how to fire in the field.
As Denmark finds itself threatened on two fronts, the country is turning to an unexpected new weapon — teenage girls — to help defend the kingdom.
Among the new troops is Mary Petersen, barely five-foot tall, who nails her shots with the precision of a seasoned soldier.
"I personally enjoy the shooting a lot," she tells Foreign Correspondent, shrugging off the rifle's recoil.
"It requires focus and quickly moving between targets. It's a pretty cool skill."
Currently grappling with threats from an old foe, Russia, and an old ally, America, Denmark has made conscription compulsory for women for the first time in its history.
Every 18-year-old Dane, male or female, must now register for military service.
"We're nothing special because we're women. When we put our uniform on, we are all soldiers, there's no gender divide," Ms Petersen says.
"We need to get as many people as we can [in the military]. We just have to be ready for whatever they deem we need to be ready for."
The growing threat of war
US President Donald Trump's threats to seize Greenland, an autonomous region of Denmark in the Arctic, have shocked Danes.
"Both in Denmark and Greenland … there is a sense of betrayal," says former chief analyst for the Danish Defence Intelligence Service Jacob Kaarsbo.
"This is the most direct challenge to Danish and territorial integrity and sovereignty since we were attacked by Nazi Germany in 1939."
The unexpected threat from within the NATO alliance has come at a time when Danes believe the threat from Vladimir Putin's Russia is growing, too.
The country's intelligence service has warned that Russia could be militarily ready for a regional war in two years.
It says Russia's willingness to attack NATO is contingent on, among other things, the war in Ukraine ending or turning into "a frozen conflict".
"It's a precarious position, and we are under pressure both from the east and the west, and we have to handle it," Mr Kaarsbo says.
The Danish government is responding by investing billions of dollars in ramping up its defence capabilities and getting more boots on the ground.
There's a sense of urgency to the process.
The country has fast-tracked female conscription by 18 months and has also nearly tripled the length of military service to 11 months.
Sidse Aagard, known as "Copenhagen" to her platoon after the area she is from, is three months into her military service.
She's thought about the possibility of going to war.
"When I first started, I thought it could be a bit scary because, of course, I don't want war," she says.
"If my country requires me to go and fight for them, yeah, I would do it."
Her military training has been challenging, but it has had its rewards too.
"When my body and mind say, 'Stop,' you can't stop. So you just have to keep going, and you find out that you actually can," Ms Aagard says.
At her army barracks, male and female soldiers share the same sleeping quarters.
She is one of two women in a nine-person dorm, and when they're on duty, no phones are 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 it's not a bad thing.
"But I think women, we really think about how to do it right. We want to do [it] right the first time."
After three months living and training with women, 19-year-old Johannes Jensen believes mandatory conscription for both genders is the right move.
"It's nice to have some women who can speak some sense into the men if that's necessary," Mr Jensen says.
"I think that right now is quite a good time for me to do this. Part of me has always wanted to protect Denmark … [from] the world's bad things. Russia, for example."
Conscription has been mandatory for men in Denmark since 1849.
Women have been able to volunteer since 1998 and in 2024 made up 24 per cent of conscripts.
"I've been in Iraq and Afghanistan and had women as combat soldiers. They've performed equally to all men," says Denmark's head of conscription, Colonel Kenneth Strøm.
"I think the diversity, having different perspectives on how to solve the operational task, that's where we have been very strong."
Colonel Strøm says while expanding conscription is ultimately a political decision, the rationale is clear.
"Obviously, based on the current security situation, we need more and faster combat power," he says.
"We will prepare Denmark to be a hard target. It would hurt you if you try to strike it."
Willing and not-so-willing recruits
At a recruitment centre in Slagelse, about an hour from the capital Copenhagen, bleary-eyed teenagers in hoodies line the hallways scrolling through their phones, waiting for their names to be called.
Every 18-year-old Dane must undergo physical examinations, including for their eyesight and hearing, as well as sit a written exam testing their logic and problem-solving skills, to see if they are fit for service.
Volunteers are taken first, but if the military doesn't get enough who enrol willingly, it turns to a lottery to determine who'll become a soldier and who won't.
Potential recruits draw numbers from a tombola drum; the lower the number, the higher the chance of being drafted.
Nineteen-year-old Isabella has passed all the tests.
The former dancer will soon trade her fake eyelashes and sparkly nails for green and brown fatigues and 11 months of military training.
"My close family, especially my grandparents, think it's a bit dangerous," Isabella says.
"At first they were like, 'It's a bit of a man's thing, it could be really dangerous.' They realised they just can't talk me out of it, so they've just decided to support me.
"I don't like to visualise myself going to war or being on the battlefield.
"[But] I have thought about it a lot. I think you have to, or else you won't be mentally prepared going into the military."
Conscription is taken seriously by the Danish authorities.
Recruits who don't show up for assessment are fined and can even be arrested and escorted to recruitment centres by police.
"Once or twice a month, the police come here with someone," says Chief Master Sergeant Steffen Sørensen, who coordinates recruitment at the Slagelse centre.
Norway and Sweden are the only other European countries with compulsory national service for both men and women.
But with Europe on high alert over growing Russian belligerence and signs that US backing for NATO is waning, other countries are rethinking how they draft military recruits.
As of this year, all 18-year-old German men must indicate if they're willing to join the armed forces. From mid-next year, they'll have to undergo a medical examination.
France has introduced 10 months of voluntary military training for 18 and 19-year-olds, and Italy is debating doing something similar.
Isabella sees no other option for Denmark.
"When I first heard about Trump threatening to invade Greenland, I was sure it was a publicity stunt. But then it started to get serious, and the threats started to become more real," she says.
"At that point, I felt we as a nation should be doing something to defend Greenland.
"And I wasn't the only one with that feeling. When I saw that people started protesting in Copenhagen, I felt a feeling of nationalism. That gave me a feeling of security that when I join the army, I'm joining a force of a land that is truly and deeply loved by its people, and that I won't be fighting for nothing."
While some of her friends under 18 are reluctant and even angry about mandatory conscription, Isabella believes it's essential.
"The whole world is such an unstable place at the moment, so I think recruiting women, and increasing how many we recruit, is mandatory, or else we wouldn't be able to prepare ourselves for the future."
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