Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (Militia)
Pros:, Senior TA unit Lots of experience, sub units spread across South Wales, Channel Islands and England Varied roles
Cons: Arrogant about Seniority (maybe) Lots of students due to TASO scheme, means young sappers often go off to University and blab about having 'Royal' titled twice (not seen and a bit sad), also lots of young Swansea and Cardiff female med students as subbies (can't think of one but I've on been in since 2004)... Did I mention arrogance? (yes)
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History
The Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (Militia) (R MON RE(M)) is the most senior regiment in the British Territorial Army, having given continuous loyal service to the crown since 1539.
It is not the oldest regiment in the British Army; this honour goes to the Honourable Artillery Company (from 1296 but chartered in 1537), but Militia always takes precedence over Volunteers, although The Jersey Field Squadron (M) can trace its origins back to 1337.
The regiment is also unusual in having the word Royal appear twice in its name. It gained the first "Royal" in 1804 when it was known as the Monmouth and Brecon Militia. The second was acquired in 1877 when the regiment transferred into a Special Reserve section of the expanding Royal Engineers. The regiment is also the only Royal Engineer regiment to possess colours because in 1914 they were given the colours of the East Monmouth Militia for safekeeping.
The unit is located in the following places:
RHQ - Monmouth
100 Fd Sqn - Cwmbran
108 Fd Sqn - Swansea
225 Fd Sqn - Oldbury
Jersey Fd Sqn - St Helier
In the last six years the Regiment has provided composite units for service in Iraq and Afghanistan. The unit's primary role is to provide a Contingency Component (CC) of trained and deployable manpower to the Regular Army in order to support Large Scale Deliberate Intervention (LSDI) operations. This is something the unit has continued to do since 2002 with a Squadron sized deployment (the only deployment of a formed unit by the TA since the Korean war) of approximately 128 personnel on OP TELIC 2, a formed Troop of 48 personnel to support 21 Engineer Regiment in 2007 on OP TELIC 11, and in 2009 for HERRICK 12. In 2011 a number of the Regiment deployed to Cyprus supporting Op TOSCA, the UN peace keeping mission. The next deployment will be a troop to HERRICK 16 in the summer of 2012. Individuals still volunteer for operations and the regiment has deployed personnel to the following locations in the last few years: Iraq, Afghanistan, Canada, Belize, Kuwait, Germany, the Balkans, Kenya, and Malawi.
RHQ
The majority of the Regiment is located in Wales with its Regimental Headquarters (RHQ) based in the remaining grounds of Monmouth Castle itself and it's supporting Troop located in Vauxhall Camp (also in Monmouth).
100 Fd Sqn
100 Field Squadron has it's headquarters and No 1 Troop in Cwmbran with its two other Troops (2 and 3) being found in Llandaff, Cardiff and Whiteladies, Bristol.
108(W) Fd Sqn (M)
108 (Welsh) Field Squadron (Militia) is located close to the Swansea city centre.
225 Fd Sqn
225 Field Squadron is located in Oldbury, Birmingham and it has recently taken over a new Troop location in Walsall, Birmingham.
