A Light Aid Detachment is an attached independent minor unit of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers,

Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers The Corps of Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (RCEME) (french: links=no, Corps du génie électrique et mécanique royal canadien) is a personnel branch of the Canadian Armed Forces (CF) that provides army engineering maintenanc ...

, Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, or Royal New Zealand Army Logistic Regiment operating as a sub-unit of the supported unit. These units provide dedicated logistic support to every field unit of the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

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 Gur ...

Canadian Army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command (military formation), command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases acr ...

New Zealand Army , image = New Zealand Army Logo.png , image_size = 175px , caption = , start_date = , country = , branch = ...

. RAEME, REME, RCEME and the NZEME were created in October 1942 out of elements of the Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps,

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 ...

, Royal Engineers, Royal Corps of Signals, Royal Army Service Corps Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps and the New Zealand Ordnance Corps who previously handled functions such as the repair of weapons, optics and vehicles.RCEME article
In the RCEME LADs were divisions of larger units known as Workshops. In the British Army the title Workshop (Wksp) is used both for major REME units (Field for Brigades or Armoured for Divisions) and for those minor units which provide some 2nd Line support to the parent regiment. The term LAD is therefore restricted to only those minor REME units which solely provide 1st Line support, typically this is Armour and Infantry units. REME minor units supporting RA, R Signals, RE, RLC etc. are normally titled as Wksp as they also provide some degree of 2nd line support to the parent unit. Typically composed of around 60-80 personnel they are attached to a host battalion. Typical field deployment would split the LAD/Wksp into a regimental "B Echelon" contingent of about 30 men and 4 "fitter sections" of about 7-12 men, each of which is attached to a company/squadron. The fitter sections are part of the A Echelon HQ of the company/squadron. This average configuration does, of course, vary widely dependent on the parent unit and their equipment.

References

{{reflist Mechanical engineering organizations Military units and formations of the British Army Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers