VMFP-3 80s Flashback

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1981 Thru The Eyes Of The Corps.
By Marc E. Iseli / Updated Dec. 2025
New year, I ditched the chow hall gig and got back in the flight suit, because apparently the squadron can’t function without me. We got tapped for another TAD to Shaw AFB, South Carolina. Boarded the C-141 on 15 January, and spent the next few weeks herding 6 RF-4B Phantoms, 10 aircrew, and about 100 maintenance Marines who were, let’s say, awake most of the time. Accommodations? Not bad. Chow hall? Actually edible. Pilots managed to rack up miles from Puerto Rico to the East Coast, because why not? Super Bowl XV landed right in the middle of it, Raiders vs. Eagles. Matalski and I started running our mouths, me backing the Eagles (bad call), him with the Raiders. Threw twenty bucks on it. Naturally, I lost. Raiders 27, Eagles 10. By the end, Matalski was so hammered I could’ve told him I paid up and he’d have believed it.

Back at El Toro, no rest for the wicked. We barely had time to unpack before Gunny decided we’d strip the squadron of every decent mechanic and aircrew for WestPac. You don’t argue with Gunny Furr unless you enjoy an ass chewing. Charlie Det was up next for MCCRES, because nothing says fun like a Combat Readiness Evaluation. We did FCLP at El Toro and San Clemente Island from late April to mid-May. Gunny wanted us to look like the Blue Angels out there, synchronized nose struts and all. I got volunteered again to fly out to the USS Constellation somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, so the aircrew could get their CarQuals. Just another day in the suck.

So, we were all fired up for our first WestPac deployment, and then reality decided to kick us in the teeth. Two of our newest aircrew crashed and didn’t make it back. On 22 May, pilot, 1lt. Keenan and RSO, 1lt. Laurman went down in the mountains near Ely, Nevada. I was the plane captain who launched them from MCAS El Toro a few days earlier. Met them on the line, got them to the cockpit, and strapped in Keenan, did the usual. Snapped a quick picture of Lauerman before he climbed into the back seat. I do not know why I took that photo that day, and yeah, it hits different now. The enlisted guys all liked them, and honestly, I still think about those two to this very day. If you want the full story of this tragedy, you can read more about it..... here. Not that we had time to process any of it. Next thing we knew, we were cramming gear into a C-130 and heading for MCAS Kaneohe, Hawaii, on 5 June. Stick around if you want to hear the details of the deployment with VMFP-3, Det Charlie, 1981.

1981 VMFP-3 Timeline
Shaw AFB, SC.
1430 05 Feb. 1981 to
Meritorious Mast, PDF
18 March 1881 For Shaw Deployment.
Meritorious Promotion, PDF
Corporal 02 April 1981
RF-4B Phantom Crash
22 May 1981 Ely, Nevada

Notable Events
Attempted Assassination Of Ronald Reagan
30 March, 1981, While leaving a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., President Reagan and three others were shot and wounded by John Hinckley, Jr.

Alright, you glorious Rat Phixers and Phlyers, if we ever survived a TAD, a Det, or a BOHICA, who haven't, and you didn’t think I was the biggest gaff off in the squadron. Got a sea story, or some grainy photos your ex didn’t set on fire, and they’re only slightly illegal? Send ‘em by email, snail mail, or safety wire it to a carrier pigeon. I collect ‘em all, just nothing that would incriminate me.
80svmfp3@gmail.com

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