Vietnam War Progeny

• In the 1950's the United States Department of Defense became interested in using Depleted Uranium metal in weapons because of its extremely dense, pyrophoric qualities and because it was cheap and available in huge quantities.

• It is now given practically free of charge to the military and arms manufacturers and is used both as tank armor, and in armor-piercing shells known for depleted uranium penetration.

• Over 15 countries are known to have depleted uranium weapons in their military arsenals - U.K., U.S., France, Russia, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Pakistan, Thailand, and Taiwan - with depleted uranium rapidly spreading to other countries.

• Depleted Uranium was first used in the Vietnam War; then on a large scale in military combat during the 1991 Gulf War, and has since been used in Bosnia in 1995, the Balkans war of 1999, and the current Iraqi War.
  

• The Rainbow Herbicides were used by the U.S. during the Vietnam War to defoliate the hiding places of the Viet Cong (VC) guerillas and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) regulars.

• The most infamous herbicide used was called Agent Orange. The steel drums in which the herbicide was transported were color-coded with an orange stripe. Other colors such as Blue, White, Purple and Pink, were used to designate different herbicide formulations.

• The largest volume of herbicide was applied from the air by C-123 "Provider" twin-engine aircraft. This air spray program was code named Operation Ranch Hand.

• Herbicides were also used around the perimeters of fire bases to keep the concertina wire clear of vegetation, providing an open view for sentries on guard duty.

• Herbicides were also sprayed along river banks to reduce the number of US casualties in the Brown Water Navy.