Cashiering



Cashiering (sometimes referred to as a degradation ceremony, although that term may be used more generally in sociology) is a ritual dismissal of an individual from some position of responsibility for a breach of discipline.

It is especially associated with the dismissal of military officers of high rank. Cashiering sometimes involved public degradation, with the destruction of symbols of status: epaulettes ripped off shoulders, badges and insignia stripped, swords broken, caps knocked away, and medals torn out and dashed upon the ground.

In addition, in the era when British Army officers generally bought their commissions, being cashiered meant that the amount they had paid was lost, as they could not "sell-out" afterwards.

Famous examples
Famous victims of cashiering include Alfred Dreyfus (see trial and conviction of Alfred Dreyfus and Dreyfus affair), Philippe Pétain, Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald (after the Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814), and Francis Mitchell.

In fiction
Cashiering is mentioned in Rudyard Kipling's poem "Danny Deever", in which a British soldier in India is cashiered before being hanged for murder.

In the cartoon "Fresh Hare", Bugs Bunny is being chased by Elmer Fudd, in this case an officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Bugs impersonates a senior officer and cashiers Elmer, not only tearing off his insignia and decorations but also his buttons and the rest of his uniform, even his undershorts.

In the movie Mary Poppins, when a British banker is fired, a version of cashiering occurs: a member of the bank's board of directors ceremoniously tear up the carnation from his lapel, and then destroy the banker's hat and umbrella before showing him the door.

In the TV Series Branded, Jason McCord is drummed out of the Cavalry. His sword is ceremonially broken in the opening credits.

In the Honor Harrington novel Field of Dishonor, Pavel Young is cashiered when he is dishonorably discharged from the Royal Manticoran Navy.

A form of cashiering is parodied in the film Looney Tunes: Back in Action, in which after DJ Drake (portrayed by Brendan Fraser) is fired from his job as a security guard, his superior rips off all the badges on his uniform jacket one by one before ordering him to surrender the now-bare jacket, which ironically rendered the earlier moves unnecessary.

In the manga/anime series Fairy Tail, Yukino Aguria is excommunicated from her guild Sabertooth by Guild Master Jiemma, who ordered her to strip herself naked and self-erase her guild mark before ordering her to leave.

In the novel The Crying of Lot 49, the Metzger character acted as a child star in a film called Cashiered, about a World War II British officer drummed out of the army on trumped up charges who tries to clear his name.