The Defence Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Munitions and Search Training Regiment (DEMS Training Regiment) is an element of the Royal School of Military Engineering responsible for the delivery of training to

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

Ammunition Technicians, Ammunition Technical Officers and Search Operators. The Regiment delivers training from two locations: Marlborough Barracks, MoD Kineton near Kineton,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...

and St George's Barracks, MoD Bicester, near Bicester,

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primaril ...

History

In 2009 the Defence Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Munitions and Search School (DEMSS) was formed, bringing together the School of Ammunition, the Defence Explosive Ordnance Disposal School and the National Search Centre, initially as DEMSS (North), at Kineton, and DEMSS (South), at Chattenden, Kent. DEMSS was renamed DEMS Training Regiment in December 2012 when the Chattenden facility was closed and relocated to new premises at Bicester, only 30 miles from Kineton, in order to 'enable closer and more integrated training across all disciplines taught at DEMSS'. Each of the schools coming together to form the Regiment have a history that encompasses a number of sites in the UK, with ammunition management having been the preserve of the

Royal Army Ordnance Corps The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armoured vehicles and other military equip ...

(later amalgamated into the Royal Logistic Corps) and Bomb Disposal having been the responsibility of the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is head ...

since the Second World War. The education and training to support this requirement has been delivered from:

Army School of Ammunition

Army School of Ammunition, Bramley

An element of the Training Establishment,

was established in 1922 at Bramley Central Ammunition Depot, a site established during the First World War to manufacture and store ammunition. Known for a time as 'B wing', it was placed under direct specialist control in 1950 and renamed the Army School of Ammunition.

Marlborough Barracks, near Kineton

A Base Ammunition Depot was built at Temple Herdewyke, near Kineton, in 1942. The Army School of Ammunition moved from Bramley to Kineton in 1974, as the former site became too small for the munitions natures being developed at the time.

Defence Explosive Ordnance Disposal School

School of Military Engineering, Ripon

The Royal School of Military Engineering was based in

Chatham, Kent Chatham ( ) is a town located within the Medway unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Kent, England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Gillingham, Rochester, Strood and Rainham. The town developed around Chatham ...

, but during the Second World War was split into two training Battalions, one of which was located at Harper Barracks (later Claro Barracks), Ripon, North Yorkshire. This site was identified as a home for the School of Bomb Disposal, formed in 1941, and reflecting the nomination of the Royal Engineers as being responsible for the discipline.

Joint Service Bomb Disposal School, Broadbridge Heath

The Joint Service Bomb Disposal School at

Broadbridge Heath Broadbridge Heath is a village and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England. It is about two miles (3 km) west from the historic centre of Horsham. The population of Broadbridge Heath has increased considerably in the fir ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

closed in 1966 and training moved to Lodge Hill, Chattenden, Kent.

DEODS Lodge Hill

The Royal School of Military Engineering took over the former Royal Naval Armaments Depots at Chattenden and Lodge Hill Military Camps in 1961. Both these adjacent sites became training areas for the relocated Joint Service Bomb Disposal School (renamed the Defence Explosive Ordnance Disposal School), which opened its new premises in Lodge Hill Camp in 1966. It shared its site and facilities with the National Search Centre, a joint Ministry of Defence/Home Office facility which provided specialist search and counter-terrorism training for the police and civil agencies.

Defence Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Munitions and Search School

The combined Defence Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Munitions and Search School (DEMSS) was set up in 2009, bringing activity at Kineton (which became DEMSS (North)) and Lodge Hill (DEMSS (South)) together under the same command. At the time, DEMSS (North) focused on munitions management training and

Improvised Explosive Device Disposal Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the militar ...

(IEDD) training, whilst DEMSS (South) focused on Conventional Munitions Disposal training, search training and Biological and Chemical Munitions Disposal training. DEMSS (South) moved to Bicester in 2013; the Lodge Hill site was put up for sale in 2016.

Organisation and training

DEMS Training Regiment delivers a number of courses to students from the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

, British Army,

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

, civilian bodies in government and to international partners. Four training squadrons deliver courses with munitions, search and conventional munitions or Explosive Ordnance Disposal at DEMSS South and Improvised Explosive Device Disposal at DEMSS North. Regimental HQ is based at Bicester, with two training wings at Bicester and two at Kineton. The four training squadrons are: *Munitions Wing – All aspects of academic elements of munitions theory, maintenance, storage, accounting, investigation processes and logistic disposal. *Conventional Munitions Disposal Wing – Disposal of unexploded ordnance and remnants of war *Specialist Search Wing – Location and identification of emplaced devices and concealed contraband material *Improvised Explosive Device Disposal Wing – All aspects of Improvised explosive device disposal in controlled and hostile environment

References

{{Reflist Bicester Education in Oxfordshire Education in Warwickshire Explosive ordnance disposal units and formations Royal Logistic Corps Stratford-on-Avon District Training establishments of the British Army