In Australia a "digger" is a word used for soldiers with very strong egalitarian connotations. That is part of the tradition of mateship which has taken a battering in PC times. In the harsh conditions of war everything was often, but not always, shared much more readily than in the less brotherly "real world". My little mate Trooper Al Godfrey flew the Australian flag outside his home for his three mates Ben Lappin, Doug Tatti and Jack Dillion for 70 years after the war because of his promise to them in Borneo in World War Two. Lest We Forget.