But in sentencing, Judge Stephen O'Driscoll said since he was unable to impose a fine, and was satisfied the $241,000 in reparation paid to the Ross family was "fair and appropriate", the NZDF has now been convicted and discharged.
The NZDF pleaded guilty at Auckland District Court last week to a charge of failing to provide a safe working environment to the soldier.
As the Army acknowledged, the 29-year-old was let down by systematic failures in defence force equipment.
Private Ross was only weeks away from being discharged when he took part in Operation Bunny - a training exercise on a choppy Lake Moawhango, near Waiouru on September 25 last year.
The rifleman with the First Battalion Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment fell into the lake after water came over the Zodiac's bow.
His life jacket failed to inflate because the gas canister had been used and not replaced.
One soldier reached out to try to grab Private Ross from the water but the soldier was sinking and all he could manage to get was the drowning man's helmet.
His body was recovered a week later.
The police dive squad recorded the lake temperature the following day as just 6C.
In his reserved sentence, released at 2pm today, Judge Stephen O'Driscoll said the widespread failures in safety protocols amounted to a "systemic failure" by the NZDF.
It left him with the "inescapable conclusion ... that the culpability of NZDF is at the high level on the scale of culpability".
While he acknowledged the NZDF's steps taken to avoid a repeat tragedy, the judge slammed the NZDF for not having identified and addressed the failures before Private Ross's death.
"It failed to do so in much more than one single way," Judge O'Driscoll said.
"Employers should not wait until a tragedy occurs to review processes and procedures that take place during the course of their business."
The judge highlighted the key NZDF failure as being the faulty life jacket that Private Ross was given but pointed to a number of other contributing factors.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's health and safety group, which brought the prosecution, identified a number of safety failures by the NZDF.
A Court of Inquiry was held the day after Private Ross's death.
A total of 33 recommendations were made to reduce the risk of a similar death in the future.
Army head Major General David Gawn has stated that he felt embarrassed when he read the report and felt the Army had let down every parent who had entrusted their sons and daughters with the force.
He said there were systematic failures but individuals could be held to account and could face a Military Police investigation.
Judge O'Driscoll was told that all of the recommendations had been started or completed.
"The NZDF has embarked on significant work since the tragedy to investigate the causes of Private Ross's death, remedy the defects that caused or contributed to his death and to ensure there will not (be) a repeat of the systematic failures that were present at the time of the tragedy," the judge notes.
Failures included:
* Failure to identify the lake's freezing water temperatures as a hazard.
* A lack of training for soldiers in using the life jackets, and a lack of safety checks.
* The Zodiac was underinflated, within dangerous proximity to other vessels, and wasn't properly checked.
* Some soldiers were not given a safety briefing before the exercise.
* Safety instructions about securing weapons on board the Zodiac were not enforced, and possibly not explained.
* The operation of the safety boat which tried to rescue Private Ross failed to meet army standards on several levels.
