 From the initial deployment of the F @-@ 4C to Southeast Asia , USAF Phantoms performed both air superiority and ground attack roles , supporting not only ground troops in South Vietnam but also conducting bombing sorties in Laos and North Vietnam . As the F @-@ 105 force underwent severe attrition between 1965 and 1968 , the bombing role of the F @-@ 4 proportionately increased until after November 1970 ( when the last F @-@ 105D was withdrawn from combat ) it became the primary USAF tactical ordnance delivery system . In October 1972 the first squadron of EF @-@ 4C Wild Weasel aircraft deployed to Thailand on temporary duty . The " E " prefix was later dropped and the aircraft was simply known as the F @-@ 4C Wild Weasel . 
