Cashiering

Cashiering (or degradation ceremony), generally within military forces, is a ritual dismissal of an individual from some position of responsibility for a breach of discipline.

From the Flemish kasseren (to dismiss from service; to discard [troops]),[1] the word entered the English language in the late 16th century, during the wars in the Low Countries.

Prior to World War I, this aspect of cashiering sometimes involved a parade-ground ceremony in front of assembled troops with the destruction of symbols of status: epaulettes ripped off shoulders, badges and insignia stripped, swords broken, caps knocked away, and medals torn off and dashed upon the ground.

[citation needed] 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.

[citation needed] William Calley, the sole person convicted of the My Lai Massacre, was cashiered out instead of receiving a punitive discharge.