1962–1971 US herbicidal warfare operation in the Vietnam War
Operation Ranch Hand was a U.S. military operation during the Vietnam War, lasting from 1962 until 1971. Largely inspired by the British use of chemicals 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D (Agent Orange) during the Malayan Emergency in the 1950s, it was part of the overall herbicidal warfare program during the war called "Operation Trail Dust". Ranch Hand involved spraying an estimated 19 million U.S. gallons (72,000 m3) of defoliants and herbicides[1] over rural areas of South Vietnam in an attempt to deprive the Viet Cong of food and vegetation cover. Areas of Laos and Cambodia were also sprayed to a lesser extent. According to the Vietnamese government, the chemicals caused 400,000 deaths.[2] The United States government has described these figures as unreliable.[3]
Nearly 20,000 sorties were flown between 1961 and 1971.[citation needed] The "Ranch Handers" motto was "Only you can prevent a forest"[1] – a take on the popular U.S. Forest Service poster slogan of Smokey Bear. During the ten years of spraying, over 5 million acres (20,000 km2) of forest and 500,000 acres (2,000 km2) of crops were heavily damaged or destroyed. Around 20% of the forests of South Vietnam were sprayed at least once.[4]
The herbicides were sprayed by the U.S. Air Force flying C-123s using the call sign "Hades". The planes were fitted with specially developed spray tanks with a capacity of 1,000 U.S. gallons (4 m3) of herbicides. A plane sprayed a swath of land that was 80 m (260 ft) wide and 16 km (9.9 mi) long in about 4½ minutes, at a rate of about 3 U.S. gallons per acre (3 m3/km2).[5] Sorties usually consisted of three to five aircraft flying side by side. 95% of the herbicides and defoliants used in the war were sprayed by the U.S. Air Force as part of Operation Ranch Hand. The remaining 5% were sprayed by the U.S. Chemical Corps, other military branches, and the Republic of Vietnam using hand sprayers, spray trucks, helicopters and boats, primarily around U.S. military installations.[6]
^ abLewis, James G. (2006). "Smokey Bear in Vietnam". Environmental History. 11 (3): 598–603. doi:10.1093/envhis/11.3.598.
^Cite error: The named reference reuters was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference ReferenceB was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Vo Quy, "Statement to the House Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and Global Environment," 4 June 2009.
^Buckingham, William A. Jr. (1982). Operation Ranch Hand: The Air Force and Herbicides in Southeast Asia 1961-1971(PDF). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-87000-466-7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 November 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
^Stellman, Jeanne et al. "The extent and patterns of usage of Agent Orange and other herbicides in Vietnam." Nature. Vol 422. pg 681
and 27 Related for: Operation Ranch Hand information
OperationRanchHand was a U.S. military operation during the Vietnam War, lasting from 1962 until 1971. Largely inspired by the British use of chemicals...
the 1950s led to the formal herbicidal program Operation Trail Dust (1961–1971). OperationRanchHand, a U.S. Air Force program to use C-123K aircraft...
by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, OperationRanchHand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. It is a mixture of equal...
1950s, which led to the formal herbicidal program Trail Dust (see OperationRanchHand). Herbicidal warfare is the use of substances primarily designed...
September 1945 and was inactivated in October. In the fall of 1966 OperationRanchHand expanded its size with the delivery of eleven additional Fairchild...
Operation Pacer HO was a 1977 operation of the U.S. Air Force that incinerated the Agent Orange stored at Johnston Atoll aboard the Dutch-owned ship M/T...
and paratroops: 165 The 315th ACG was responsible for OperationRanchHand Defoliant operations missions. After some modifications to the aircraft (which...
narrow-leafed plants and trees (grass, rice, bamboo, banana, etc.) "OperationRanchHand" was military code for spraying of herbicides from U.S. Air Force...
of South Vietnam. In response, the USAF launched Operation Freedom Train, later redesignated Operation Linebacker, the first sustained bombing of North...
guerilla warfare. The U.S. Agent Orange usage reached an apex during OperationRanchHand, in which the material (with its extremely toxic impurity, dioxin)...
Service. p. 503. "Agent Orange: Persisting Problems With Communication of RanchHand Study Data and Results" (PDF). U.S. GAO ~ T-NSIAD-00-117. U.S. Government...
one of the common phenoxy herbicides of the era. Even prior to OperationRanchHand (1962-1971) it was known that a dioxin, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin...
known by the name "2,4,5-T Dioxin" and used in the US Military's OperationRanchHand and on Canada's CFB Gagetown Canadian Forces Base in rural New Brunswick...
Chemical Corps operated a program that would become known as OperationRanchHand. RanchHand was a herbicidal warfare program which used herbicides and...
Southern Vietnam as part of the U.S. herbicidal warfare program OperationRanchHand during the Vietnam War, from 1961 to 1971. Vietnam's government claimed...
ester 2,4,5-T n-butyl ester 2,4,5-T iso-butyl ester Even prior to OperationRanchHand (1962-1971) it was known that 2,4,5-T, and thus Agent Purple, Agent...
contained about 60%–40% of this active substance. Even prior to OperationRanchHand (1962–1971) it was known that a dioxin, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin...
extinction Involuntary manslaughter List of environmental issues OperationRanchHand Rights of nature Scorched earth War on drugs#Aerial herbicide application...
Operation Hades may refer to: Operation Hades, which resulted in the Plutonium affair in Germany Operation Hades, part of OperationRanchHand during the...
as cover, initially conducted by the United States Air Force in OperationRanchHand in 1962. Waist Deep in the Big Muddy; the Big Fool said to push on...
livestock-raising operations in Mexico, the Western United States and Western Canada, though there are ranches in other areas. People who own or operate a ranch are...
was cancelled.: 236–239 In December 1965 the USAF began its first OperationRanchHand defoliation missions against the trail in Laos using both Agent Blue...
use of herbicides to kill food crops. This was the beginning of OperationRanchHand which would defoliate much of South Vietnam during the next decade...
of the Communist world and under direct attack". October 1962 — OperationRanchHand begins. U.S. planes spray herbicides and defoliants over South Vietnam...
Lawrence Seaway is held. 1961 – Vietnam War: The U.S. Army begins OperationRanchHand, spraying an estimated 20 million US gallons (76,000 m3) of defoliants...
States used Agent Orange as a part of its herbicidal warfare program OperationRanchHand to destroy crops and foliage to expose possible enemy hideouts during...
S. military defoliation program during the Vietnam war known as OperationRanchHand. The use of a chemical or biological agents to destroy Japan's rice...