What was defoliation in the Vietnam War?
Agent Orange is a mixture of herbicides used during the Vietnam War by the U.S. military to defoliate forests and clear other vegetation. Agent Orange was used along with several other herbicides, code-named Agents White, Purple, Blue, Pink, and Green.
How was Agent Orange sprayed in Vietnam?
According to military estimates of herbicide use, 90 percent of Agent Orange was used in Ranch Hand forest defoliation missions; 8 percent was used in Ranch Hand crop destruction missions; and 2 percent was sprayed from the ground around base perimeters and cache sites, waterways, and communication lines (NAS, 1974).
What herbicides were used in Vietnam?
By far the most widely used herbicide was Agent Orange, followed by Agent White; other tactical herbicides that were used in Vietnam during the war include Agent Blue, Agent Purple, Agent Pink, and Agent Green.
Where was the most Agent Orange sprayed in Vietnam?
Setting Priorities: Addressing the Heavily Sprayed AreasTwelve provinces were the most heavily sprayed with Agent Orange during the war. Ten of them cluster around one of the three air bases that became the most contaminate with dioxin: Da Nang, Phu Cat and Bien Hoa.
What is the legacy of the Vietnam War?
Perhaps the most important political legacy of Vietnam has been the growing segregation of our all-volunteer military from wider society. Opinion polls reflect this. The off-hand “thank you for your service” ironically symbolizes this distance. Reintegrating returning warriors remains profoundly important.
What did Agent Purple do?
Agent Purple is the code name for a powerful herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military in their herbicidal warfare program during the Vietnam War. The name comes from the purple stripe painted on the barrels to identify the contents. Agent Purple and Orange were also used to clear brush in Canada.
Is Agent Orange still in Vietnam?
After its use in the 1960s, Agent Orange was banned by the U.S. in 1971 and remaining stocks were taken from Vietnam and the U.S. to Johnston Atoll, a U.S. controlled island about 700 miles SE of Hawaii, where it was destroyed in 1978. There is no ‘Agent Orange’ in Vietnam or anywhere else today.