Official 1st LAAD Death from Below Patches — The Marines Who Shoot Back at the Sky
While everyone else ducks, LAAD Marines aim up.
1st Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion is a United States Marine Corps air defense unit under Marine Air Control Group 18 and the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, based at Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay. Originally activated in 1982 as 1st Forward Area Air Defense Battery at MCAS Futenma, Okinawa, the unit employed the Redeye and Stinger missiles across the Pacific Rim. The battalion was decommissioned in 2007, but the Marine Corps reactivated 1st LAAD on August 31, 2023, as part of Force Design 2030 — recognizing the critical need for organic ground-based air defense in the Indo-Pacific theater. The battalion's mission is to deliver close-in, low-altitude, surface-to-air weapon capabilities in defense of MAGTF assets. In December 2025, the unit received the Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS), a game-changing platform that combines 30mm cannons, Stinger missiles, and electronic warfare systems to counter drones, cruise missiles, and manned aircraft. "Death from Below" — because in the modern battlespace, the threat comes from above, and 1st LAAD is the answer.
Perfect For: 1st LAAD Marines and veterans, LAAD gunners past and present, air defense professionals, MACG-18 personnel, MCB Hawaii Marines, and anyone who knows that the best anti-air weapon is a Marine with a Stinger.
1st LAAD — death from below, delivered with precision.
