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Naval Air Technical Training Center Memphis "NATTC"
By Marc "Devil Dog Of The Web" Iseli / Updated Dec. 2025
NAS Memphis, otherwise known as the place where the Navy and Marine Corps sent their finest to learn how to keep jets airborne and occasionally out of the trees. They cranked out more aviation techs than a boot camp chow line, with 20,000 students a year getting their brains scrambled by NATTC Memphis. If you had a pulse and could spell 'hydraulic fluid,' you probably passed through one of those legendary 'A' or 'C' Schools. The place was a factory for wrench-turners and wire-chasers, all coded up with enough acronyms to make your head spin. The party lasted until 1993, when the BRAC gods decided to pack up the circus and ship it all down to Pensacola, probably because Memphis ran out of coffee or patience.

August 26, 1979: I stumble off the bus at NATTC Memphis, still smelling like boot camp and bad decisions. The first thing that hits me walk through the gates was the sound, jets screaming overhead like they’re late for happy hour. I’m a fresh-faced boot, loose in the wild, and the place looks like someone dropped a bunch of Quonset huts from a C-130. I wander around, dodging NCOs and trying not to look lost, until I find myself face-to-face with Harriers, A-4s, and P3 Orion aircraft. the size of small apartment buildings. I can’t believe they let me this close to anything more expensive than a mop. That’s when it hits me: I’m in the big leagues now, and the next four years are going to be one hell of a ride.

Barely had I dropped my seabag before I learned the dirtiest phrase in the Marine lexicon: Field Day. Turns out, my MOS was part janitor, part floor buffer ninja, and full-time toilet whisperer. When I wasn’t scrubbing porcelain, I was getting my hands greasy with the F-4 Phantom or pretending I knew what I was doing in the cockpit of an A-4 Skyhawk. Somehow, I managed to graduate at warp speed and even snagged Honor Student, probably because I didn’t set anything on fire. After a quick victory lap back home, it was off to MCAS El Toro, where the real FUBAR was just getting started.
Visit My Photo Album
Photos of A-School, NATTC, Millington, TN..

Marine Aviation Training Support Squadron 901
Marine Aviation Training Support Group 90
Naval Air Technical Training Center
Naval Air Station, Millington,Tn.
26 Aug-15 Oct. 1979
MOS 6011 Aircraft Mechanic, Trainee

Liberty Call
Memphis TN., Gaceland Tour.
Honor Certificate
15 Oct. Honor Student Of Class 9050

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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