of any tactical aviation squadron in Marine Corps history. On July 26, 2005, VMFA(AW)-332 departed MCAS Beaufort for its combat deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). 332 regularly flew a twelve-sortie Air Tasking Order cycle with intermittent surge days and ground alerts. Typical missions included close air support (CAS), Armed Reconnaissance (AR), Infrastructure Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), Advanced Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance System (ATARS) and Convoy Escort. These missions were conducted on a daily basis, during both day and night, in support of Marine, Army, and various Joint Special Operations units. The most common tasking from these ground units required use of the LITENING Pod to identify, monitor, and report any activity in the vicinity of historical insurgent mortar and rocket Points of Origin (POO) sites. Most of these POO sites were in the vicinity of Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) and coalition airfields throughout Al Anbar province. During just 7 months of combat operations, which included both the Iraqi Constitutional Referendum and National elections, the Moonlighters participated in such named Operations as Rivergate, Iron Fist, Steel Curtain, Blue Devil, Trifecta, Tigers, Skinner, Spider Web and Liberty Express. During this deployment, the “Moonlighters” flew 2406 sorties for a total of 6031.9 hours. The squadron departed the Al Anbar province successfully on February 11, 2006 with another combat deployment of zero missed sorties. The total ordnance expended for the deployment was: 50 GBU-38s, 270 GBU-12s, 23 AGM-65s, 10 5” rockets, 2 GBU-16s, 6 GBU-32s, 16 LUU-19s and 7640 rounds of 20mm for a total of 160,966 lbs of ordnance. During the deployment they used the combat callsign of “Dealers." In late 2006 the squadron began downsizing in preparation for the decommissioning of the squadron. Flight operations focused on preparing aircrew and Marines for follow on units. The squadron flew its last flight in the F/A-18 Hornet and was deactivated on March 30, 2007. The Moonlighters were named the 2006 Marine Corps Aviation Association Fighter/Attack Squadron of the Year and held the longest streak of mishap-free flight hours for a tactical jet squadron with a remarkable 109,000 hours. Popular culture Revell GMBH distributed a 1:48 plastic model kit of a Korean era 1953 Corsair F4U-4 of VMA-332 "polka dots", ship No. 14, (modelled from the same photo used in this wiki above, the F4U aboard the USS Point Cruz) Unit awards Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal National Defense Service Medal with one