History

In memory of Lance Corporal Ivano Violino, Warrant Officer Class 2 David Markland, Sapper Guy Mellors and the fallen heroes - we will remember.

The Three Six Challenge - A sporting event to raise funds for Maidstone's 36 Royal Engineers Welfare Fund.  In support of the families of the Royal 36 Engineers and Ghurkhas serving in  Afghanistan.

HISTORY of Search with The Royal Engineers

The history of Search in the Royal Engineers can be traced back to the beginning of the 20th Century when Sappers were used to search for mines and munitions. Since then Search has been utilised in every theatre in the world.

The conflict in Northern Ireland in the early 70’s resulted in the first formal recognisable Search training. Following the 1984 Brighton Bomb aimed at Margaret Thatcher’s Government the Home Secretary directed that the Police seek assistance from the Royal Engineers regarding Search.

This led to the establishment of a joint military and police search training establishment in 1988 and in 1990 this became formally known as the Counter Terrorist Search Wing (CTSW). At that time the CTSW was part of the Field Engineer Wing (FEW) of the RSME, based in Chattenden Barracks.

In 1992 the FEW became the Battlefield Engineer Wing and moved to 3 Royal School of Military Engineering (RSME) at Minley leaving the CTSW to stand alone in Chattenden. The CTSW moved to it’s current site at Lodge Hill Camp in 1995.

The final evolution happened in 1997 when the CTSW was re-titled the National Search Centre (NSC) responsible for all aspects of search training to both the military and civil police. The NSC is due to move along with the Defence Explosive Ordnance Disposal School (DEODS) to a new camp on the MOD’s Bicester site by 2012.

‘REQUIRO’
 The National Search Centre logo has been ‘Requiro’ since 1981. The verb quearo means to seek or to search, and there is a derivative ‘Requiro’. The ‘Requiro’ logo is adapted from the Corp grenade with an all seeing eye in its centre. The concept behind the design is that it represents the ‘Educated Eyeball’.

When the design was made there was very little dedicated search equipment and the ‘Educated Eyeball’ was the most efficient method of discovering terrorist hides or bombs.

MISSION

The NSC exists “to deliver training and advice to the military, police and other government departments in the safe and timely location of specified targets whilst minimising damage and disruption to routine activities.”