Jankers

In the British Armed Services, jankers is formal punishment, as opposed to the casual award of tasks for minor infringements. To be "on jankers" is to have been formally charged by a non-commissioned officer or commissioned officer, to have had the details of the charge entered into a charge sheet (Army Form No. 252 in the British Army), to have appeared before an officer, and to have been subsequently Confined to Barracks for a specified interval. [cite book|title=Schoolboy to Soldier 1935–1960|author=Clement Hoyle|pages=31|date=2006|publisher=SERENDIPITY|id=ISBN 1843941783] [cite web|url=http://www.greenhowards.org.uk/bill-cheall/cheall01.htm|title=Bill Cheall's Story|work=The Green Howards Regimental History|publisher=Edward McKillop Nichol] [cite web|title=Jankers|work=WW2 — People's War|date=2006-01-24|author=searcherjohnedwards|publisher=BBC|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/32/a8794632.shtml] [cite web|title=A surprise for my brother|author=BBC GMR Bus|work=WW2 — People's War|date=2003-11-12|publisher=BBC|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/49/a2026649.shtml]

"Jankers" was a familiar part of National Service. The term is also used in civilian life and journalism to mean the punishment of minor infringements by the imposition of tedious duties. BBC comedies, such as It Ain't Half Hot Mum used the term, with the first ever episode "Meet the Gang" seeing Gunner Graham put on "jankers" (painting stones) by the Sergeant Major [cite web|title=It Ain't Half Hot Mum will have you rolling on the floor laughing!|work=Epinions|publisher= Shopping.com, Inc.|date=2001-09-01|author=cripper|url=http://www.epinions.com/content_39122931332] , as have memoirs of life in the armed services. [cite news|title='Oh, what a lovely war'|work=The Spectator|date=1988-01-24|author=Patridge, Frances|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_199801/ai_n8786091] [cite news|title=All's well that ends well|work=The Spectator|date=2003-10-18|author=Baxter, Keith|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_200310/ai_n9331290/pg_2]

References

within jankers, the soldier is subjected to many inspections a day, and may not be fed proper meals either. The usual peiod for jankers is 3 months, but may be up to 6, depending on the circumstances.