At a brigade camp not many miles from Portsmouth*, the adjutant of one of the battalions, being short-sighted, almost always wore a single eyeglass. One evening, when emerging from the regimental orderly tent, it happened he was without his optical assistant. Seeing a staff sergeant who had just passed, he thought it was the band sergeant he had just sent for, so he called out, "Band sergeant! band sergeant!"
The staff sergeant, seeing that no one else was near, turned about, saluted, and said, "Beg pardon, sir; I'm not the band sergeant." "No, no," exclaimed the adjutant, recognising by the voice that he had made a mistake, "of course not. What a fool I am." "Yes, sir," replied the staff sergeant habitually, as he saluted and strode away.
樸次茅斯*幾英里之外，有一個軍旅營地，其中一營軍隊的副官患近視，幾乎整天都戴一個單眼鏡。一天晚上，他從軍團辦公室走出來，恰巧沒有戴眼鏡，看見一位上士走過，以為是他剛遣人召喚的樂團中士，就喊道：「樂團中士！樂團中士！」
那上士見附近無人，就轉過身，敬禮，說道：「對不起，副官，我不是樂團中士。」那副官憑聲音發覺自己叫錯了人，連聲說：「對，對，你當然不是。我真糊塗。」那上士循例回答：「是的，副官。」他再次敬禮，轉身大步離去。
*樸次茅斯是英國南部一個軍港。