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Operation Ranch Hand

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The Vietnam War saw many moving parts, so horrific that they have left a lasting scar upon anyone who witnessed and experienced them. One of the horrors came from a United States defoliation program called "Operation Ranch Hand". Beginning in January 1962, the purpose of this operation was to destroy the forest cover and crops that protected and fed the Viet Cong troops. The operation ended five years later in April 1970. In order to do this, the United States employed the use of the "Rainbow Herbicides". Over nineteen million gallons of herbicides were deployed over four and a half million acres of land (Young). The motto of Operation Ranch Hand was, "Only we can prevent forests" (Young), a play on Smokey the Bear's slogan, "Only we can prevent …show more content…
This festering injury comes from the harmful effects of Agent Orange. In addition to severe birth defects, Agent Orange caused cancer, nervous system disorders, and skin conditions in over three million troops we sent there. If our veterans are still suffering, we can only imagine the horrors the Vietnamese still have to fight. Researchers from Columbia University School of Public Health estimated that over five million Vietnamese civilians and another one million Vietnamese troops were sprayed upon (Agent Orange Record. Also, the Vietnam Red Cross has estimated that over three million people over three generations have been affected by the herbicide (Brown). In simple terms, twice as many Vietnamese people have to suffer from the United States' ignorance of chemical implications. A local veteran of the war mentioned that he still had scars specifically due to Agent Orange. Unfortunately, he would not tell more, for the memory was too much to bear. As time continued, the effects of Agent Orange continue to be added to the list. Currently, results of being exposed to it also include Hodgkin's disease and lymphoma (Haberman). To this day, much to the frustration of the Vietnamese, the United States Government denies the adverse effects of dioxin, hindering the normalization of the relationship between the United States and Vietnam (Agent Orange …show more content…
Zumwalt Jr. and his son, Elmo R. Zumwalt III (Haberman). Admiral Zumwalt wrote of his experiences in his book, "My Father, My Son". It depicts his life as the Admiral who ordered the spraying of the Agent Orange and the effects it has had on his personal life. In his book, he wrote that despite eventually knowing about the effects of the dioxin, he still would have ordered to spray it, for in his mind the reduction of casualties was worth it. Unfortunately, it was his son who had to bear the brunt of his father's decision. Elmo R. Zumwalt III was born with congenital disorders. Despite his father being the cause of his suffering, Elmo III never blamed him, because he knew that his father's first priority was to save the soldiers there

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