“October 21st [1914] More bayonet instruction this afternoon. Our chaps are beginning to hold their weapons as if they meant business. Wetted my stripe today at dinner in the tent with drinks all around, and took the opportunity to intimate that I was to be addressed as “Corporal” in the future, and not by my name or nickname. This sort of thing is awkward with old friends, but it is just like it was at school; if you are in authority and people get too familiar, they will argue when told to do something they don’t like, and arguing is barred with a war on.”

Anon., A Soldier’s Diary of the Great War, 1924