Four-plane defoliant run, part of Operation Ranch Hand

Four-plane defoliant run, part of Operation Ranch Hand

Environmental History Weapons Vietnam Agent Orange

The United States military used the defoliant known as Agent Orange to destroy large swathes of Vietnam's jungle, depriving the Vietcong of cover, but both fighters and non-combatants of food. The chemical caused chronic illnesses for both the Vietnamese who it was used against and the American servicemen who handled it. Birth defects were common in their descendents. Operation Ranch Hand, like nuclear testing, made plain the ability world militaries had in the early 1960s to change the environment on a massive scale

USAF

Wikimedia Commons

1960s