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Best Memories Of VMFP-3
By Marc "Devil Dog Of The Web" Iseli / Updated Dec. 2025
If any of you old Rat Pack misfits want to sound off, drop your war stories in the comments, and I’ll slap them up here for all to see. Thanks for the memories, the madness, and the mayhem. Semper Fi, you magnificent Rat F*ckers.
80svmfp3@gmail.com

Cpl. Paul Carson (Electrician)
I transferred from 2/7 to P-3 around 85. When I arrived at Millington for school, I was quite shocked. I will explain. Being in the grunts for a few years, you can imagine the culture shock transferring from an infantry division to the air wing; unless you were prior infantry, it's really hard to understand the change. Anyway, upon arriving at my first school, the first and foremost thing on my mind was checking out my M-16 to see what kind of shape it was in. I got the strangest look from people when I asked where the armory was. Also seeing Marines in... well, less than what I would consider proper haircuts and less than properly starched uniforms, well, it all seemed like a different world. Needless to say, I got used to it and really became attached to P-3 and the great Marines that I had the pleasure to work with
LCpl. Kevin M. Davis (Electrician)
Top Roller once told me he wished I'd been a better Marine, because I was the best damn electrician he'd ever seen. Served at the Electric Shop, VMFP-3, Night Crew from '79 to '82. Then, well, I got in trouble. Tommy Lawson, Charlie Power (not Powers, he'd get red in the face), and Kerry Yeager were a few of my running buddies.
Sgt. Ross A. Moore (Hydraulics)
I, too, reminisce about the old times I loved so much with P-3. I was one of nine enlisted who got to have a back-seat ride in the Phantom while on Det to Iwakuni in 1986. I guess you never really know how much you will miss anything until it's gone! "Your brother, Semper Fidelis"
Cpl. Mark "Noload" Nothelfer (Flight Equip)
Man I remember my first day they wanted me to check a chute in a bird but sent me to maintenance control for the keys to the bird then mad dog McWen sent me to Flight Line Shack then I think every shop I got sent to got a call before I got there, some flight line some prop wash man by the time I got back to maintenance control they were on a roll, boy I couldn'twait to pull that on the next fool to check in.
Sgt. Bill Schield (Electrician)
My entire adult life has been shaped by the things I learned while in the Corps and with P-3. I made long-lasting friends and met and married my wife of 10 years there. "They were the best of times; they were the worst of times." The days were long, the nights longer, and the work was hard, but we endured and had a great time. Semper Fi!!!!

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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