Herbicidal Warfare: The RANCH HAND Project in Vietnam [Hardcover]

Paul Frederick Cecil (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Herbicidal Warfare is an organizational history of the 12th Air Commando Squadron that flew the airplanes that dropped chemical defoliants on South Vietnam. Cecil, a retired USAF officer, not only flew on the missions, but was able to gain access to official papers and to interview more than 1,200 veterans for his work. The book describes the operations of `Ranch Hand,'i.e., how chemicals were loaded, stored, and used during the war. Concluding chapters discount reports that the herbicides, particularly Agent Orange, might have caused permanent damage to the Vietnamese environment or to the American personnel who handled it. Cecil asserts that the herbicide program worked, and that many American lives were saved by reducing the area available to the enemy in which to hide.... A handy reference to one narrow aspect of the Vietnam War; no other work covers this disputatious policy so completely or objectively. College, university, and public libraries.”–Choice

“A carefully done, technologically oriented account of America's `environmental war' in Vietnam in its two basic forms: defoliation for security reasons and crop destruction for food denial purposes. This is likely to be a definitive work. Cecil flew 1,000 missions in the Ranch Hand Project and probably knows more than anyone about actual herbicidal air operations during the Vietnam War. Extensive appendix on sources and bibliography.”–Indochina Chronology

Product Details

• Hardcover: 302 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Publishers (March 18, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0275920070
• ISBN-13: 978-0275920074
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,463,635 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Written by one who sprayed., January 5, 2000

By 

Reid Kirby (St. Charles, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Herbicidal Warfare: The RANCH HAND Project in Vietnam (Hardcover)

Paul Cecil's history of the Ranch Hand Program in Vietnam is invaluable for understanding why the US engaged in herbicidal warfare in the conflict.

The author breifly presents the history of US CW spraying and herbicidal warefare (chemical only), then follows this with a lengthy detail of Vietnam spray operations. The book is invaluable in understanding the tactical challenges of spray operations, and the techniques devised from these experiences. While I enjoyed the book thourghly for the authors wealth of knowledge on aerial spraying, most readers will be disappointed in its lack of development of the personalities involved, and it rather dry context.

Nonetheless, no history of US herbicidal warfare would be complete without reading this book. The author points to the combat effectiveness of herbicidal warfare, the strong demand for it by field commanders, and the mistakes made by analysts at the time that were critical of the program (such as not even looking at the operational field data!).

The author points to the early effectiveness of anti-crop operations, but their eventual failure due to misuse by GVN planners to punish villegers and not allocating moneys for relocation. Also details the failures of the forest burning operations.

The author does describe how Ranch Hand pilots received more than 1,000x the exposure to Agent Orange than troops on the ground, and that they did not have any ill effects decades later (epidemeological study). Also that Agent Orange (or Purple) had to be reapplied on a regular basis to maintain defoliation, as vegetation quickly grew back.