This year, Leigh Dryden's daughters will miss out on celebrating Father's Day with their dad. 

Instead, on Saturday they will be taking the boat out for a fishing trip - one of his favourite things to do. 

Mr Dryden may be a father to two girls, but he is also a rifleman in the Australian army. 

He has been serving in the infantry for almost nine years, but his demanding work means he has often missed some milestones in his young daughters' lives. 

He was in Malaysia on a training mission when his eldest daughter, Ayva, took her first steps. 

Ayva and her sister, 18-month-old Bellah, are both "definitely daddy's girls" according to mum Ashlee. 

"When daddy goes away the girls miss our family routine and spending quality time with Dad," Ms Dryden said. 

"They have such a strong bond with him, both are definitely daddy's girls.”

"For him, he said he misses the girls running up to him after a long day at work or being on field exercises." 

His most precious moments are when his girls throw themselves into his arms in a tumble of cuddles and kisses. 

For Mr Dryden, those moments of intimacy with is daughters are what bring him down to earth. 

Those moments make him “realise why he does what he does for our country”, Ms Dryden said.  

He was deployed to Iraq in 2008, but is currently training as an army carpenter.

This year, it’s not a dangerous overseas mission dragging Mr Dryden away, but a military course in Sydney. 

Though the family have been lucky to have him around more than usual in the past two years, it's every day routine that Mr Dryden. 

"It's the simple things, like tucking them into bed at night, that he misses," Ms Dryden said. 

"Leigh says from serving overseas it has made him appreciate the little things we have that most people take for granted and what a great country we live in."