VMFP-3 80s Flashback

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1979-83 VMFP-3
By Marc "Devil Dog Of The Web" Iseli / Updated Dec. 2025
Back in the 80s, VMFP-3 wasn’t out there dropping bombs or jamming radars like the cool kids. Nope, we were the Marine Corps’ dedicated snoop squad, flying around collecting intel while everyone else played Top Gun. The mission? Multisensor aerial reconnaissance, fancy talk for snapping pictures, reading heat signatures, and mapping out the bad guys for the Fleet Marine Force and any Navy brass who needed to know what was over the next hill. We had three main tricks: old-school film cameras for beach surveys and BDA, infrared for spotting hot engines in the dark, and SLAR for peeking through clouds when Mother Nature decided to be difficult. Before satellites and drones made everyone lazy, we were the ones you called when you needed eyes on target, right now. By the late 80s, the brass started swapping out our gear for digital toys and podded sensors on the shiny new Hornets, but for a while, we were the only game in town.

If you’re going to get stuck at a Marine Air Station, you might as well do it at El Toro in the 80s, right when Uncle Sam was throwing money around like a drunken sailor. I got a front-row seat for the last hurrah of the F-4 Phantom before the shiny new F-18s rolled in and made us all feel old. So buckle up, because I’m about to drag you through my glory days as an RF-4B plane captain, complete with all the characters, chaos, and questionable decisions that made it unforgettable.

1979-83 VMFP-3 Timeline
Based on my memory and original orders
Trainee Management Element 31
Transition from TME to VMFP-3
1980 VMFP-3
Homestead AFB, Photo Album
1981 VMFP-3
TransPac, MCAS Iwakuni, Photo Albums
1982 VMFP-3
USS Constellation, Space Shuttle landing.
1983 VMFP-3
USS Eisenhower, WTI Yuma Az., Photo Albums

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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