Jankers

In the British Armed Services, jankers or Restrictions of Privileges is an official punishment for a minor breach of discipline, as opposed to the more severe punishment of "detention" which would be given for a man committing a more serious or criminal offence. To be "on jankers" meant the serviceman or woman had been put on a charge by a non-commissioned officer (NCO) or occasionally a commissioned officer, (referred to in service slang as "being put on a fizzer") and so having his alleged offence entered on a Charge Report (Army or RAF Form No. 252). After appearing before an officer, the punishment might be ordered by the officer only after he has heard the evidence and had considered any mitigating factors.

Jankers is a much used vernacular term. The official Army terminology for jankers was "CB" which means "Confined to Barracks" or in the RAF "CC" "Confined to Camp" but later during the epoch of National Service the term was changed to "ROP" or "Restrictions of Privileges" in both Services.

The term jankers is today very occasionally used jokingly in civilian life, such as in journalism to mean the punishment of minor infringements by the imposition of tedious duties.

As an alternative to ordering jankers, the officer may alternatively decide to "dismiss the charge", if he considered the man had no case to answer. Or the officer may simply "admonish" him or her if he decided the alleged breach of discipline had occurred but was just not serious enough to warrant jankers. For some offences, like drunkenness, the officer might alternatively impose a fine instead of jankers.

When jankers is "awarded" by the officer taking the charge, the officer will also specify the number of days the jankers would last for up to a maximum of 14 days.

The officer's decision, in this regard, is dependent upon his judgement of the seriousness, or otherwise, of the offence(s) committed and also whether it is a first offence or there were previous similar breaches of discipline already recorded on the man's or woman's conduct sheet e.g. "Jankers" is a familiar part of life during Regular and National Service in both the British Army and the Royal Air Force.

The kinds of offences which, most typically, resulted in a man being put on jankers, have always been fairly minor breaches of discipline, most commonly being AWOL, e.g. returning to base slightly late after leave on a weekend pass. Other common offences, often resulting in a spell of jankers, were being caught still in bed after reveille, being drunk, being deemed "scruffy" when in uniform such as boots or brasses not gleaming satisfactorily, performing some minor duty lazily or carelessly, failing to comply correctly with some order or regulation, failing to salute an officer correctly or some other similar mistake, being late for some duty, being untidy or lazy in barrack room, such as not sweeping bed space properly or having dust on locker, making a sloppy bedpack, or else not being up to the required standard of smartness on parade or on a kit inspection.

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Wikipedia