The squadron is equipped with the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18C Hornet and is based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, United States.

On 16 December 1943, the squadron received orders to prepare to move to the west coast of the United States beginning the first week of January 1944.

On 9 April 1945, 24 aircraft from the Death Rattlers launched from the USS White Plains (CVE-66) and flew into Kadena airfield in support of Operation Iceberg during the Battle of Okinawa.

[4][5] After the war, the Death Rattlers were based at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, where they conducted training exercises.

During action near Kosong, on 11 August 1950, a VMF-323 Corsair pilot, Captain Vivian M. Moses, became the first Marine aviator killed in Korea.

[6] Around January 1951, VMF-323 performed their likely last combat operations from the USS Badoeng Strait and moved with MAG-33 to Bofu Airbase in Honshu Japan.

Conditions at K-1 were reportedly harsh, as the squadron was living in tents, had no furniture, and was eating K-Rations in freezing weather.

From 20 April onward the difficult non-hard-surface runway at the K-16 airfield near Seoul was used as a forward operating base for rearming and refueling, while K-1 was used for repair and scheduled maintenance.

VMA-323 was the Marine fixed-wing attack squadron with the longest overseas service during the Korean War, accumulating a total of 48,677 hours of flight time since their August 1950 arrival in Korea.

[9] That year, the Death Rattlers flew armed patrols over the Quemoy and Matsu islands to support Chinese nationalist forces.

The squadron was reestablished at MCAS El Toro and received its first F8U Crusaders in the summer of 1958. it trained in 1958 and 1959 was then assigned to USS Oriskany.

As the United States grew closer to war in South Vietnam, the Death Rattlers deployed to Da Nang Air Base beginning on 25 October 1965.

On 15 April 1986, the squadron provided SAM suppression and fighter Combat Air Patrol (CAP) sorties during Operation El Dorado Canyon.