Once enlisted, the Papanui men were faced with making the transition from civilian to soldier. Although many of them had had previous experience with military discipline as a Territorial, there is a difference between the levels of discipline required for combat compared with civilian-based Territorial service. Twenty-one of the Papanui men had brushes with summary military justice. Thirteen of them only had one occasion to be disciplined, while six of them had three or more encounters. Most of the punishments were imposed before they left New Zealand (eight occasions) or before they were on active service (six occasions in Egypt or the United Kingdom). The most common offences were for overstaying leave or being absent without leave (nine occasions), losing equipment (six incidences) or being absent or late to parade for duties (five occasions). Only on three occasions were men disciplined for disobeying or refusing an order, and on each occasion were punished more severely than for other offences, which is understandable. Overall, one gets the impression that this pattern reflects the inevitable adjustments individuals needed to make to accommodate the new situation in which they found themselves.
