So began Operation Ranch Hand, destined to continue from 1962 to 1971—its mordant but unofficial motto “Only You Can Prevent a Forest.” Second only to the nuclear policy of Massive Retaliation, Ranch Hand may well qualify as the ultimate expression of the mindlessness to which the Cold War–inspired perversion of national security gave rise. Relying primarily on specially modified C-123 transport aircraft, the air force proceeded to dump some nineteen million gallons of various herbicides, Agent Orange being the most common, over an estimated six million acres of South Vietnam and Laos.
