The 3rd Wing at Clark Air Base was originally known as the 3rd Tactical Fighter Wing (3TFW)and was later renamed during the United States Air Forces restructuring to a "Composite Wing". The 3rd Tactical Fighter Wing consisted of the 3rd AGS (Aircraft Generation Squadron) and within the 3rd AGS were two major Aircraft Maintenance Units or AMU's, The 3rd AMU and the 90th AMU. The 3rd AMU consisted of roughly 36 F-4E Aircraft, while the 90th AMU consisted of the same approximate number of F-4G models, also known as "wild weasels" which were a SAM ( Surface to Air Missle) battery destroyer.

These AMU's within the 3rd AGS and the 3rd TFW were tasked with maintaining and providing mission ready aircraft to combat the communist influences throughout southeast Asia and to maintain security of U.S interests in the region. Missions were flown daily utilizing a small targeting and bombing range known as "Crow Valley" where Bamboo replicas of aircraft and vehicles were constructed by locally employed phillipinos and later bombed or strafed by the F-4's. Clark Air Base played host 7 times a year to a popular multi-unit exercise called "Cope Thunder" which brought units from through out the Pacific theatre to participate in Dogfighting and bomb and strafing runs. The AMU's of Clark's 3rd AGS also helped in maintaining South Koreas defensive status by particitpating in "Team Spirit", The largest combined military exercise in the world which brought all U.S. forces to bear on the Korean peninsula including Army, Marine and Naval units. Noteable awards given during these exercises were prestigious "Top gun" type awards for fliers and High-Flyer awards for the maintainers of these aircraft. The High-Flyer award for Team Spirit 88' was won by Crew chiefs SSGT Gregg Paquette and his sidekick alter-ego SRA Charles "Brooksie" Brooks for maintaining the F-4E aircraft in a war-type environment with the aircraft flying 23 of 23 missions for a 100% maintenance rate. Both were awarded plaques by the 3rd TFW commander.

These types of exercises helped maintain defensive posture during the late 70's and thoughout the 1980's up until the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo which forces the United states to abandon this massive overseas air base