Panther Prowler — Banzai

VMAQ-2 "Panthers", Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 2 · USMC · 1993-2000

Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 2 flew the EA-6B Prowler from MCAS Cherry Point beginning in 1977, jamming enemy radar and shooting HARM missiles down the throat of air defense networks. Ordered in 1993 to retire the "Playboys" bunny it had worn since 1955, the squadron re-christened itself the "Panthers" and carried that cat through repeated Unit Deployment Program rotations to MCAS Iwakuni, Japan — including the 1995 WestPac tour supporting exercises over Korea and War-at-Sea strikes with MAG-12. This deployment patch sets the snarling panther against a rising sun with the kanji 萬歳 (banzai, "ten thousand years"), the shorthand of Marines a long way from North Carolina. VMAQ-2 became the Corps' last Prowler squadron, standing down on 8 March 2019 after sixty-six years.