<P> Until 1 September 1961, lance corporal and lance bombardier were only appointments rather than substantive ranks, given to privates who were acting NCOs, and could be taken away by the soldier's commanding officer (whereas a full corporal or bombardier could only be demoted by court martial). The Royal Engineers and Army Ordnance Corps also used the similar rank of second corporal, which was a substantive rank (also wearing one chevron), until 1920 . Until 1920, bombardiers in the Royal Artillery were equivalent to second corporals and until 1918 (when the rank of lance bombardier replaced it), acting bombardiers were equivalent to lance corporals (both wearing one chevron). </P> <P> In the infantry, a lance corporal usually serves as second - in - command of a section and commander of its delta fire team . It is also a rank commonly held by specialists such as clerks, drivers, signallers, machine - gunners, and mortarmen . In the Intelligence Corps and Royal Military Police, all other ranks are promoted to lance corporal on the completion of their training . </P> <P> On 1 April 2010, the rank of lance corporal was introduced into the RAF Regiment, although it is not used by other branches of the Royal Air Force . RAF Regiment lance corporals have powers of charge over aircraftmen, leading aircraftmen and senior aircraftmen, but not junior technicians or senior aircraftmen technicians, who, despite being OR2s, require a corporal or above to charge if required . </P> <P> The British cadet forces reflect the ranks of their parent services, so the Army Cadet Force, Army and RAF sections of the Combined Cadet Force (CCF), and the various marine cadet organisations have cadet lance corporals as their first NCO rank . In the CCF (RAF), the rank was called junior corporal until 2010 . The Air Training Corps does not use the rank of lance corporal . </P>

Role of a lance corporal in the army