Lance was one of the first kids to go missing while playing Combat 3000, a laser tag game. In truth he had been taken prisoner by Uvlavad Kudlak so Lance could fight a war that ended long ago.
His father was a British Army soldier who had been killed in Iraq. Clyde Langer, not knowing this, had coined the nickname "the Corporal" (as in 'Lance-Corporal') for him at school. (SJA: Warriors of Kudlak)