For the uninitiated, Agent Orange is the moniker given to the “mixture of butoxyethanol esters of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T).”1 It was a nasty chemical compound manufactured primarily by Dow Chemical and Monsanto (and others) at the instructions of the United States government during the Vietnam war.
-WiscoDave
*****
Agent Orange killed my father August 20th, 2012.
My BIL, who was a Marine and served in Nam, was finally certified for benefits from Agent Orange a few years ago. He has a 90% disability rating from the VA for benefits.
ReplyDeleteHad an uncle who was exposed to it. His last few years were miserable for him and his family. What a waste.
ReplyDeleteWe had a great mailman, the best ever. He died of it a few years back when the VA told him they were gonna treat him, the bastards. His name was Steve. We miss him.
ReplyDeleteMatt
My father was on 100% disability because of his exposure to Agent Orange from his two tours in Vietnam 67, 69.
ReplyDeleteMine as well, Jan 27, 2009
ReplyDeleteAgent Orange also killed my dad's youngest brother, my uncle. And I remember the stories of my ex-BIL telling me how the planes and choppers would come overhead, spraying the stuff, and how it would drift downward, covering their ponchos with the chemicals, then the next day, looking at the vegetation, and it would simply be down, dead and brown.
ReplyDeleteOf course it was harmful to those exposed to it, to think that it could be anything other than harmful to those who got it onto their skin or breathed it into their lungs is to lie to yourself and to those who whom you sprayed it on.
But when you are counting on the defense contractors for election funding, you have to funnel money into their coffers, in order to get some of it back, in the form of campaign cash. Lives be damned.
One of my uncles was crew chief on a C-123. He flew several Ranch Hand missions. He denied reports of danger. He developed emphysema, but that could have been those two packs of Camels for 30 or 40 years. He died at age 80. VA ruling is every person who was in Vietnam was exposed to Agent Orange. DOW and the government dicked around and lied, but most blame falls on the corporations that put millions of dollars above everything else.
ReplyDeletemy dad unloaded drums of the stuff while he was a seabee in da nang. he passed away in 2009 from cancer..they still say it wasn't agent orange related but we know the truth.
ReplyDeleteI was there in 68 and 69 in the bush. I remember the shit. They covered it up same as the Desert Storm Syndrome I think it was called. Told those young fellas it was all in their heads and they died. That was swept so far under the rug I haven't heard about it in years. Trust my government? You gotta be kidding me.
ReplyDeleteCDC was a Rockerfeller foundation creation and that foundation has always existed to further the ends of global banksters. CDC still has private funding.
ReplyDeleteGood friend of mine was a door gunner on a Huey and the Ranch Hand missions flew overhead all the time.....he died at 52 from Agent Orange related issues....of course, his wife received no compensation....
ReplyDeleteAgent Orange killed my father 5 AUG 1978. Exposure in 1966 in Iron Triangle induced chronic leukemia, which was misdiagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis through his retirement physical in '74. It went acute in summer '78. He died a few months later.
ReplyDeleteMy dad's first tour ('65-'66) was in the Central Highlands with the Cav, his second tour (1970) was in the Iron Triangle, operating out of Cu Chi.
DeleteAgent orange, a combination of 2,4,D and 2,4,5,T that turned bright orange when mixed together, was used as a defoliant in Vietnam.
ReplyDeleteBoth chemicals are widely used today, but not in the combined form.
The armed forces in it's "more is better" thinking, used the stuff in it's concentrated form.
FYI, for example, 2,4,D has a recommended label rate of 1/3 to 1 1/3 pint per acre, with 2,4,5,T being the same.
An acre is 43560 square feet.
It's no wonder people exposed to the concentrated combination got sick!
My oldest brother was a medic and recently has been fighting the VA over issues related to his service in Nan and after. He was telling me they are not sure if AO or other chemical exposure from when he was stationed at San Diego and Quantico (I think it was that base, might have been another one. Military bases are chocked full of toxic crap). Should not matter other than which fund they take it out of, right?
ReplyDeleteIt is the same way with paraquat, I see the ads on TV and wonder what about the yeas the GOV spent spraying fields of pot with that crap back in the 70s?
Good thing our Gov is looking out for us, eh?
Sorry to hear of the losses fellow readers, God Bless the lives lost and their families that have to carry on.