Desertion was not a matter of individual isolated cases that the authorities succeeded in limiting and controlling; it was a phenomenon that continued to irk the authorities because of its frequency and magnitude, as attested to by the fact that the regiments’ scribes were given pre-printed tables with “noksan,” i.e. missing, as one of their standard headings. Seeing these reports, both Mehmed Ali and his son were alarmed at the scale of the problem. Ibrahim rejected the officers’ claim that it was the increased duties of the soldiers that prompted them to desert. He said that this was a mere pretext and that desertion was more due to the laxity and carelessness of the officers.

DEFINE: The term 'noksan' (missing) became a standard scribal heading, showing the word itself codified the desertion problem into bureaucratic routine. Builds on: "Desertion infected every level of the Egyptian army."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 1345