HMLA-269 Gunrunners

Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 269 "Gunrunners" · USMC · 2024-2026

Activated at MCAS New River in 1971 as the Marine Corps' first designated attack helicopter squadron, the Gunrunners earned "The First and the Finest" over Lebanon, Desert Storm, Iraq, and Afghanistan before being struck from the rolls on 9 December 2022 under Force Design. The squadron was reactivated on 1 July 2024 under Marine Aircraft Group 29, restoring a second East Coast light-attack squadron to II Marine Expeditionary Force. This subdued grayscale variant carries the squadron's crosshairs over a dragon and a serpent rising from flame — the paired UH-1Y Venom and AH-1Z Viper the Gunrunners fly today. Worn during the squadron's peacetime rebuilding years, it marks a unit that came back from deactivation rather than one merely standing watch.