Saturday, April 25, 2020

December 1969. Operation Ranch Hand (Agent Orange/Defoliation))


December 1969. Operation Ranch Hand. Between January 1966 to December 1969 military defoliation operations in the Con Thieu province of I Corps were estimated at more than 2 million sprayed gallons of herbicides. By using average troop strength and turnover figures, an estimated 218,000 Marine infantry personnel were determined to have been assigned to I Corps between 1966 and 1969. By randomly selecting 276 of 976 Marine monthly battalion reports, the GAO tracked troop movement and compared troop locations with herbicide mission data. Nearly 26,000 U.S. Marines and Navy medical personnel were identified who entered within a radius of 2.5 km of the defoliated target areas within one day of spraying; 4,300 troops were identified as being within 0.5 km of the flight path; 11,700 were within 2.5 km within four weeks. In the Khe Sanh-Thon Son Lam area, an estimated 4,300-8,000 troops were within 0.5 km of the sprayed area within one day of spraying; within 28 days, 33,600-45,300 troops were determined to have been within 2.5 km of the defoliation target. Army records were found to lack sufficient information, so that estimates of the number of Army personnel close to sprayed areas could not be calculated. The GAO report concluded that "the chances that ground troops were exposed to herbicide Orange are higher than the DOD previously acknowledged … the group of personnel most likely to have been exposed could include ground troops as well as herbicide handlers and aircraft crew members."


[270] Veterans and Agent Orange: Health Effects of Herbicides Used in Vietnam. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK236347/
[271] Buckingham WA. 1982. Operation Ranch Hand: The Air Force and Herbicides in Southeast Asia 1961-1971. Washington, DC: U.S. Air Force Office of Air Force History.


Image: Four “Ranch Hand” C-123 aircraft spray liquid defoliant on a suspected Viet Cong position in South Vietnam in September of 1965. The four specially equipped planes covered a 1,000-foot-wide swath in each pass over the dense vegetation. [152]
Four “Ranch Hand” C-123 aircraft spray liquid defoliant


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Map showing Ho Chi Minh Trail, Sihanouk Trail and major air bases used by FACs. (U.S. Air Force)

  https://mhttps://media.defense.gov/2009/Jun/17/2000551414/-1/-1/0/090617-F-1234P-033.JPGedia.defense.gov/2009/Jun/17/2000551414/-1/-1/...