DOCSLIB.ORG

Military Exposures and the Aging Veteran What Long-Term Care Providers Need to Know

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Military Exposures and the Aging Veteran What Long-Term Care Providers Need to Know Military Exposures and the Aging Veteran What Long-term Care Providers Need to Know Omowunmi Osinubi, MD, M.Sc. MBA., FRCA, ABIHM, IFM-CP, BCN. Director, Clinical Services War-related Illness & Injury Study Center Department of Veterans Affairs – New Jersey Healthcare System [email protected] The National Association of State Veterans Homes Summer Conference Denver, Colorado August 8, 2019 Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center The views expressed in this presentation are those of the presenters and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States government. There are no financial conflicts of interest to disclose. Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center Presentation Outline • Introduction to VA Post Deployment Health Services (PDHS/WRIISC) • Vietnam War Exposures & VA Presumptive Conditions • Gulf War Exposures & VA Presumptive Conditions • Garrison exposures: – Camp Lejeune & VA Presumptive Conditions – Training-related exposures • Mental Health & Cognitive impacts of Military Exposures • Available Resources Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center Post Deployment Health Services Mission: • A VA-Delivered Core Service that assesses the impact of deployment/ environmental exposures on Veterans and develops related policy, research, education and health care strategies • PDHS consists of three interrelated Programs: – Environmental Exposure Epidemiology – Environmental Health (Pre-911 Programs / Post-911 Programs / Radiation dose evaluations) – The War Related Illness and Injury Study Center • WRIISC is a National VA Post-Deployment Health Program, established by Public Law 105-368, 105th Congress, 1998 4 Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center WRIISC LOCATIONS & SERVICE AREAS Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center WRIISC MODEL Research Research produces knowledge and evidence- supported interventions and tools that can improve patient care and can be packaged and disseminated through education activities. Education Clinical Care Education of patients and Observations from clinical care providers can improve patient lead to research questions and outcomes and identify gaps in testable hypotheses, highlight knowledge to be addressed gaps in provider and patient by research. knowledge. Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center TODAY’S VETERANS – AGING POPULATION 19.6 Million Veterans in The USA 55% of all Veterans are 60 years old or older M Younger than 30 1 M 33-44 years old 3.3 45-59 years old 5.7 M 60-74 years old 7.7 M 75 years or older 4.8 M 0 2 4 6 8 10 Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center THE VIETNAM WAR: 11/1/55 – 4/30/75 • Long, costly and divisive conflict • U.S. DoD estimates that for the years 1955–1975: – 2.8 million served in Vietnam – 3.4 million served in Southeast Asia – 8.7 million served worldwide. • More than 3 million people died – More than 58,000 Americans – More than half of the dead were Vietnamese civilians • January 1973 US & North Vietnam concluded peace agreement • Vietnam Veterans returned home to negative reactions - along with physical damage including the effects of exposure to the toxic herbicide Agent Orange. – https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-history Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center WHAT IS AGENT ORANGE (AO)? “Agent The dioxin Orange” was a by- An herbicide A mixture of Contained came from product of that was two TCDD orange strip the used to kill common (dioxins) on drums manufacture plants herbicides contaminant (Also other of the colors) herbicide Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center WHEN WERE HERBICIDES USED? • Herbicides used from 1961 to 1971 • Agent Orange 1965 – ‘70; Green, Pink, Purple ’61 – ‘65 • Agents White and Blue: 1960s – ‘71 • Agent Orange in Korea along DMZ from 1968 to 1971 ‘61 ‘65 ‘68 ‘69 ‘70 ‘71 Herbicide Agent Orange in Vietnam In Korea Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center WHY WAS AGENT ORANGE USED? • Tactical herbicides - used to defoliate forested and rural land • Goals of defoliation: – Deprive guerillas of cover – Deprive guerillas of their rural support and food supply • By destroying ability of peasants to support themselves in the countryside, forcing them to flee to U.S. dominated cities Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center WHAT WAS THE EXTENT OF HERBICIDE USE? • 20 million gallons of defoliant sprayed from aircraft • USAF Operation Ranch Hand: 6, 542 spraying missions • >20% of South Vietnam’s forest sprayed over 9 years • By 1971, 12% of total area of S. Vietnam sprayed Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center OTHER AGENT ORANGE EXPOSURE LOCATIONS • May have been exposed in: – Thailand near perimeter of certain bases ~1961-75 – Contaminated C-123 air planes from ~1969 – 86 – Herbicides stored or tested elsewhere – Brown Water if on land/inland waterways ~1962-75 Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center WHAT IS THE AGENT ORANGE ACT OF 1991? • Public Law 102-4 (Agent Orange Act of 1991) – Established presumption of exposure & service connection for diseases associated with herbicide exposure – Institute of Medicine (IOM) reviews Agent Orange research and makes scientific recommendations to VA – Secretary of VA uses IOM Reports to inform decisions regarding conditions to put on the VA List of conditions Presumed Related to Agent Orange. Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center VA PRESUMPTIONS: WHY DO WE HAVE THEM? • Lack of exposure data and real knowledge • Two-step presumption: If you were there…. You were exposed If you were exposed and develop one of the conditions…. It is related to the exposure Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF MEDICINE (NAM) VETERANS & AGENT ORANGE REPORTS •Funded by VA to determine if health effects are associated with exposures to herbicides and dioxin. •Eleven reports published by Institute of Medicine (IOM), now called the National Academies of Medicine (NAS). •Update 11 published in Nov 2018 - available free online at: http://www.nationalacademies.org/h md/Reports/2018/veterans-and- Released in agent-orange-update-2018.aspx November 2018 Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center A O - TIME LIMITED PRESUMPTIVE CONDITIONS • Peripheral Neuropathy (early onset) • Porphyria Cutanea Tarda • Chloracne (or similar acneform disease) Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center AGENT ORANGE PRESUMPTIVE CONDITIONS: • Cancers: – Chronic B-Cell Leukemias – Hodgkin’s Disease – Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma – Multiple Myeloma – Some Soft Tissue Sarcomas – Prostate Cancer – Respiratory Cancers: • Lung, larynx, trachea, bronchus Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center AO PRESUMPTIVES: COMMON AND UNCOMMON • Common: - Parkinson’s Disease - Ischemic Heart Disease - Diabetes Type 2 • Uncommon: - AL Amyloidosis - Spina Bifida (Vietnam or Korean DMZ) - Birth Defects (children of female Vietnam Vets) Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center BLUE WATER NAVY (PROCOPIO V. WILKIE) • The term refers to those vessels usually navigating outside the territorial seas of Vietnam. – BWN within 12 miles from shore • Blue water Veteran with prostate cancer and Type II diabetes filed a law suit against the VA • U.S. Court of Appeals for the https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentago Federal Circuit has ruled that VA n-congress/2019/01/29/court-rules-va-must- pay-disability-benefits-to-blue-water-vietnam- must pay disability benefits to veterans/ ‘blue water’ Navy Vietnam veterans Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=5280 Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center WHAT’S AHEAD: NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCE • Veterans and Agent Orange Update 2014: – Limited evidence of suggestive association for: • Bladder Cancer • Hypothyroidism • “Parkinson-like Symptoms” • Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2018: – Sufficient evidence of association for • Hypertension • Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) Office of Patient Care Services Post-Deployment Health Services War Related Illness and Injury Study Center WHAT’S AHEAD: • NAS Report on Intergenerational Effects of Toxic Exposures from Military Service – Gulf War Veterans – Vietnam Veterans – Recommend a strategy for studying any effects in children
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Agent Orange News Clips, May 6 - June 29, 1982
    4943 item n Number ° D N0t scanned Author CorOOratB Author Veterans Administration, Office of Public and Consumer RflDOrt/ArtiClB TltlB VA in tne News: Agent Orange News Clips, May 6 - June 29, 1982 Journal/Book Title Year °000 Month/Day Color n Number of Images ° DBSCrlOtOn NOtBS Photocopies of newspaper clippings. Also included are a VA bumper sticker, and a VA brochure entitled "Agent Orange: Meeting Veterans' Concerns" from November 1985. Friday, February 22, 2002 Page 4943 of 5115 Veterans Administration November 1985 AGENT ORANGE Meeting Veterans' Concerns SOUTH A COMMITMENT TO SERVING VIETNAM VETERANS CONCERNED ABOUT AGENT ORANGE AGENT ORANGE The Veterans Administration (VA) has been directly involved in the conduct and monitor- ing of a wide variety of research and other ac- tivities related to the many and complex pieces of the Agent Orange puzzle. A number of these major efforts are discussed on the following pages. Additional information is available from the Agent Orange Projects Of- fice (10X2), Veterans Administration Central Office, Washington, DC, and the environmen- tal physician at the nearest VA Medical Center or Outpatient Clinic, MEETING VETERANS1 CONCERNS RESEARCH mm JSP*! Vietnam Veterans Mortality Study This effort is designed to assess mortality pat- terns among U.S. Army and Marine Corps veterans who served during the Vietnam era. A sample of 75,000 veteran deaths has been ran- domly selected from VA files. For each of these veterans, military service and cause of death in- formation is being collected and coded. The two types of data will be merged and analyzed to compare the mortality experience of veterans who served in Vietnam with veterans who served elsewhere during the Vietnam era.
    [Show full text]
  • The Amounts Used Are Varying for Several
    This is an "Agent Orange" page I formatted for Paul Sutton, who was then President of the New Jersey State Council of the Vietnam Veterans of America, and Chairman of the VVA's national Agent Orange and Dioxin Committee. This information has never, to my knowledge, appeared in any VVA publication, nor has it been publicly published elsewhere. Mr. Sutton has since resigned his positions in the New Jersey VVA. This document is not an official publication of the Vietnam Veterans of America, but was formatted by me to appear as if it was -- in the hopes that we could push the VVA to publish the data. Seems this info is still a political hot potato. Andrew Wilson UtVet.com editor and publisher Former Director, Utah VVA Chapter 924 The amounts used are varying for several reasons-- some only include air spraying-- others do not include repeated spray over the same area-- and some include the other locations that were not in Nam--see attached-- when you add all the variables it does total over 22 mil gallons ===================================== EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE HERBICIDAL WARFARE PROGRAM IN VIETNAM, 1961 - 1971 Operations Trail Dust/Ranch Hand H. Lindsey Arison III [email protected] Prefatory Notes: The military use of herbicides in Vietnam began in 1961, was expanded during 1965 and 1966, and reached a peak from 1967 to 1969. Herbicides were used extensively in Vietnam by the U.S. Air Force's Operation RANCH HAND to defoliate inland hardwood forests, coastal mangrove forests, and cultivated land, by aerial spraying from C-123 cargo/transport aircraft and helicopters.
    [Show full text]
  • The United States' Chemical Defoliant Use During the Vietnam War and Its
    ABSTRACT OATSVALL, NEIL SHAFER. War on Nature, War on Bodies: The United States’ Chemical Defoliant Use During the Vietnam War and Its Consequences. (Under the direction of Matthew Morse Booker.) During most of the Vietnam War, from 1961-1971, the United States military sprayed chemical defoliants on a significant part of the Vietnamese environment in order to gain a military advantage. US forces used these chemicals in an attempt to substitute technology and financial resources for manpower to triumph over a relatively technologically deficient enemy. This effort, dubbed “Operation Ranch Hand,” wrought incredible destruction not only on Vietnam’s natural setting, but also on everyone involved; Vietnamese and American, civilian and soldier. This work examines the consequences of defoliation, and aims to show that those outcomes proved more severe in both scale and efficacy than any anticipated results. It differs from previous studies by combining environmental, military, medical, and cultural factors and considering them as interrelated. Whenever possible this study also tries to bring in a Vietnamese perspective, though that is often impossible due to a lack of available evidence in English. In this war, the United States treated not only the Vietnamese Communists as enemies but also assaulted the natural environment as foe. The interconnections forged during this complicated interpretation of nature and enemy are essential to the study of Operation Ranch Hand and chemical defoliation operations. Nature mattered to both sides, and an
    [Show full text]
  • Hereinafter “IOM Agent Orange Review”]
    The Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization YAL E L A W S C H O O L January 18, 2014 BY ELECTRONIC MAIL Wesley T. Carter, Major, USAF Retired Chair, The C-123 Veterans Association 2349 Nut Tree Lane McMinnville, Oregon 97128 Dear Major Carter, On behalf of the C-123 Veterans’ Association, you have asked us to consider whether existing medical and scientific evidence satisfies the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs (“VA”) legal standard for “actual exposure” to herbicide agents such that veterans who served on C-123 aircraft (also referred to as UC-123K) between 1972 and 1982, which were used to spray Agent Orange and other tactical herbicides in Vietnam, are eligible for presumptive service connection for disability compensation benefits. We are pleased to provide our legal opinion on this question. We conclude that existing evidence indicates that C-123 veterans satisfy the legal standard for “actual exposure” to tactical herbicides. These veterans are thus entitled to presumptive service connection for listed diseases. Because those veterans who served on C-123 aircraft formerly used to spray Agent Orange and other tactical herbicides can prove actual exposure, by law and regulation they need not demonstrate that they served in the Republic of Vietnam, nor are they required to present evidence bearing on “bioavailability” of herbicides, the duration or magnitude of their exposure, or any other criteria. Under existing medical and scientific evidence, service on C-123 aircraft used to spray Agent Orange satisfies the VA’s standard for actual exposure to herbicides. Thus, veterans who served on such aircraft and who have a disease listed as service-connected for exposure to tactical herbicides are entitled to disability benefits on that basis.
    [Show full text]
  • THE SECRET AGENT Copyright 1983 Human Arts Association and Green
    THE SECRET AGENT Copyright 1983 Human Arts Association and Green Mountain Post Films VETERAN 1: The problem got so severe, I couldn’t keep anything in my stomach, I lost a lot of weight. I also developed a rash after I came back from Viet Nam that I didn’t have before I went. VETERAN 2: So when I came back from Viet Nam and this rash wouldn’t go away, I went over to my mother’s house, and I asked her to take a look at the rash. I was told it was jungle rot. As soon as she saw it, she said, “That’s not jungle rot. Your father had jungle rot. I don’t know what that is, but it’s not what your father had.” Words that my mother said then and when Kerry was born almost came back to haunt us, that she had intuitive knowledge that something wasn’t right.” VETERAN 3: I cannot remember, these headaches got so severe. My arms and legs, I have numbness with pain. I can’t move my hands. They give me sheepskin blankets to sleep on at the hospital. My hands shake. VETERAN 4: I’ve got the spine of a 77 year-old man and I’m 33. I cannot have seX with my wife anymore. My wife is 32. VETERAN 5: In 1975, I started having slight peripheral neurological problems, you know, my hands and feet were starting to tingle. I think it was from March of ’77 until January of ’78. I lost the ability to walk.
    [Show full text]
  • History of AO and Dioxin in Vietnam
    History of Agent Orange and Dioxin in Vietnam About Agent Orange: Agent Orange was one of a class of color-coded herbicides that U.S. forces sprayed over the rural landscape in Vietnam from 1961 to 1971 to defoliate trees and shrubs and kill food crops that were providing cover and food to opposition forces. It was a 50/50 mixture of two herbicides: 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. It remained toxic for only days or weeks and then degraded, i but it had a toxic contaminant, dioxin, that did not degrade as readily and is still causing health problems in Vietnam. About Dioxin: Its chemical name is 2,3,7,8-tetrachloro-dibenzo-para-dioxin, or TCDD. It is a persistent organic pollutant that contaminated Agent Orange and some of the other color- coded herbicides when the production of one of their components (2,4,5-T) was accelerated during wartime. ii TCDD is the most toxic of about 419 types of similar toxic compounds, which include PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls). The chemical companies that produced the Vietnam- era herbicides say they were unaware how toxic the dioxin contaminant was. Agent Orange/Dioxin Use in Vietnam: About 60 percent of the herbicides used in Vietnam was Agent Orange. More than 43 million litres (11.4 million gallons) of it were used from 1962-1970. More than 30 million litres (about 8 million gallons) of Agent White, Blue, Purple, Pink and Green were also sprayed. iii The concentrations were 20 to 55 times normal agricultural use for killing plants.
    [Show full text]
  • Mortality of Air Force Veterans Exposed to Herbicides During the Vietnam War
    DIOXIN IN VIETNAM: CHARACTERISATION, MONITORING, REMEDIATION AND EFFECTS Mortality of Air Force veterans exposed to herbicides during the Vietnam War Norma Ketchum1, Joel Michalek1 1Air Force Research Laboratory, San Antonio Introduction The long-term effects of herbicide exposure on human health are not fully known and remain controversial. Herbicides were used by US forces for defoliation and crop destruction during the Vietnam War. The toxic effects of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (dioxin), the contaminant found in Agent Orange and other herbicides sprayed during the war, continue to be of concern more than thirty years after the war. Studies of the post-service mortality experience of Vietnam veterans1-7 have given mixed results. The US Army Chemical Corps Study1 reported an increased risk of death due to digestive diseases and a non-significant increase in the risk of death from cancer. A study of Australian Army veterans4 reported an increased risk of death due to digestive diseases but no increases due to cancer. However, a study of women veterans3 found an increased risk of death due to pancreatic cancer and a study of Vietnam veterans from Michigan6 reported an excess of deaths due to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The Air Force Health Study is a prospective epidemiological study of the health, mortality8,9, and reproductive outcomes of veterans of Operation Ranch Hand, the unit responsible for aerially spraying herbicides in Vietnam from 1962 to 1971. The study, now in its 22 nd year, began in 1982 and will conclude in 2006. Here we update our second report by summarizing current all-cause and cause-specific post-service mortality in veterans of Operation Ranch Hand.
    [Show full text]
  • Agent Orange and the Vietnam Veteran
    Agent Orange And the Vietnam Veteran THE HISTORY OF AGENT ORANGE USE IN VIETNAM Background Agent Orange is the code name for one of the herbicides and defoliants used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand , during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. Vietnam estimates 400,000 people being killed or maimed, and 500,000 children born with birth defects . A 50:50 mixture of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D, it was manufactured for the U.S. Department of Defense primarily by Monsanto Corporation and Dow Chemical . The 2, 4, 5-T used to produce Agent Orange was later discovered to be contaminated with 2, 3, 7, 8- tetrachlorodibenzodioxin , an extremely toxic dioxin compound . It was given its name from the color of the orange-striped 55 US gallon (200 L) barrels in which it was shipped, and was by far the most widely used of the so-called "Rainbow Herbicides ". During the Vietnam War, between 1962 and 1971, the United States military sprayed nearly 20,000,000 US gallons (75,700,000 L) of chemical herbicides and defoliants in Vietnam, eastern Laos and parts of Cambodia, as part of Operation Ranch Hand . The program's goal was to defoliate forested and rural land, depriving guerrillas of cover; another goal was to induce forced draft urbanization , destroying the ability of peasants to support themselves in the countryside, and forcing them to flee to the U.S. dominated cities, thus depriving the guerrillas of their rural support base and food supply.
    [Show full text]
  • Guide to Air Force Historical Literature, 1943 – 1983, 29 August 1983
    Description of document: Guide to Air Force Historical Literature, 1943 – 1983, 29 August 1983 Requested date: 09-April-2008 Released date: 23-July-2008 Posted date: 01-August-2008 Source of document: Department of the Air Force 11 CS/SCSR (MDR) 1000 Air Force Pentagon Washington, DC 20330-1000 Note: Previously released copies of this excellent reference have had some information withheld. This copy is complete. Classified documents described herein are best requested by asking for a Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) rather than by asking under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) The governmentattic.org web site (“the site”) is noncommercial and free to the public. The site and materials made available on the site, such as this file, are for reference only. The governmentattic.org web site and its principals have made every effort to make this information as complete and as accurate as possible, however, there may be mistakes and omissions, both typographical and in content. The governmentattic.org web site and its principals shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused, or alleged to have been caused, directly or indirectly, by the information provided on the governmentattic.org web site or in this file. DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE WASHINGTON, DC 23 July 2008 HAF/IMII (MDR) 1000 Air Force Pentagon Washington, DC 20330-1000 Reference your letter dated, April 9, 2008 requesting a Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) for the "Guide to Air Force Historical Literature, 1943­ 1983, by Jacob Neufeld, Kenneth Schaffel and Anne E.
    [Show full text]
  • 31295007099293.Pdf (1.120Mb)
    THE LONG-TERM EFFECTS FROM HERBICIDE USE DURING THE VIETNAM WAR by JEFFREY R. CRAIG A SENIOR THESIS in GENERAL STUDIES Submitted to the General Studies Council in the College of Arts and Sciences at Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of BACHELOR OF GENERAL STUDIES Approved DR. PAUL iiiPPINS 7 Department of Health, Physical Educatio and Recreation Chairperson of the Thesis C 'ttee _........ DR. JAMES RECKNER Department of History 7 / DR. dl(Ry ELBOW //Department of Geography Accepted DR. DALE DAVIS Director of General Studies May 1992 f) no ' ^' ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS JAZ^ HP< 111f- w I would like to thank the members of my Thesis Committee: Dr. Gary Elbow, Dr. Paul Knipping, and Dr. James Reckner for giving me their help and valuable time during this project. I would also like to thank Dr. Dale Davis, Director of General Studies, and Kay Caddel, advisor for General Studies, for their contributions. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES iv CHAPTER I. OPERATION RANCH HAND 1 The Ranch Hand organization 2 Military success 4 Herbicide information 5 Dioxin 11 II. THE ECOLOGY AND HERBICIDE USE 13 Inland forests 13 Mangrove forests 16 Wildlife 17 Government attitudes 18 NAS study 20 III. HUMANKIND AND HERBICIDE USE 22 NAS study 22 CDC studies 23 Ranch Hand study 25 International symposium 27 Legal Battle 28 IV. FINAL OBSERVATIONS 30 BIBLIOGRAPHY 33 111 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES 1. Military Herbicides 6 2. Herbicide Composition 7 3. Herbicide Expenditures 9 4. Areas Treated With Herbicides 10 5.
    [Show full text]
  • The Use and Abuse of Technology: in Insurgent Warfare
    The Use and Abuse of Technology In Insurgent Warfare Raymond F. Hain Introduction "The American effort in Vietnam was the best that modern military science could offer. The array of sophisticated weapons used against the enemy boggles the mind. Combat units applied massive firepower using the most advanced scientific methods. Military and civilian managers employed the most advanced techniques of management science to support combat units in the field. The result was an almost unbroken series of American victories that somehow became irrelevant to the war. In the end, the best that military science could offer was not good enough . ."1 How is it that such a paradox developed? How could a world Super Power lose a war to a third or forth rate military power? The answer has many parts. One part of the answer must lie in the difference between military science and military art. The more technology a country has developed, the more it seems to depend on military science in stead of military art. Another part is in the make up of the combatants and their outlook toward warfare. Despite the many analyses of the Vietnam war produced by the military, none has adequately considered the fundamental question of how the U.S. could so completely dominate the battlefield and yet lose the war. Senior military officers have published books and memoirs about Vietnam. They have all nearly ignored the insurgent portions of the war and devoted themselves to the conventional side of the conflict. The most celebrated analysis of the war made by a military officer was produced by Col.
    [Show full text]
  • Acute and Long-Term Impact of Chemical Weapons: Lessons from the Iran-Iraq War
    Acute and Long-Term Impact of Chemical Weapons: Lessons from the Iran-Iraq War D. D. Haines1,2,3*, S. C. Fox4 1Summative Synergy Pharmaceutical Group 3Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacology Chandler, Arizona Health Science Center United States of America University of Debrecen Debrecen, Hungary 2Department of Molecular and Cell Biology University of Connecticut 4QueenBeeEdit Storrs, Connecticut Bloomfi eld, Connecticut United States of America United States of America TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION — Moral, Ethical, and Practical Perspectives on the Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons 98 I. HISTORICAL USE OF CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS ..................................................................... 98 A. Ancient Precedent for Chemical and Biological Weapons Use ............................................................................... 98 B. Early Restrictions on Chemical Warfare: The 1899 Hague Conference .................................................................. 99 C. World War I: An Evolution of Chemical-Weapons Employment ............................................................................ 99 D. Inter-War Years: Chemical-Weapons Use in “Low-Intensity” Confl icts ................................................................. 99 E. Chemical Weapons in World War II: Abstention by Major Combatants ............................................................... 100 F. Chemical Weapons in World War II: Japanese Actions in China and Accidental Release in Italy ........................ 100 G. Egyptian
    [Show full text]