<P> During the Vietnam War , between 1962 and 1971 , the United States military sprayed nearly 20,000,000 U.S. gallons ( 76,000 m ) of various chemicals -- the `` rainbow herbicides '' and defoliants -- in Vietnam , eastern Laos , and parts of Cambodia as part of the aerial defoliation program known as Operation Ranch Hand , reaching its peak from 1967 to 1969 . For comparison purposes , an olympic size pool holds approximately 660,000 U.S. gal ( 2,500 m ) . As the British did in Malaya , the goal of the US was to defoliate rural / forested land , depriving guerrillas of food and concealment and clearing sensitive areas such as around base perimeters . The program was also a part of a general policy of forced draft urbanization , which aimed to destroy the ability of peasants to support themselves in the countryside , forcing them to flee to the U.S. - dominated cities , depriving the guerrillas of their rural support base . </P>
<P> During the Vietnam War , between 1962 and 1971 , the United States military sprayed nearly 20,000,000 U.S. gallons ( 76,000 m ) of various chemicals -- the `` rainbow herbicides '' and defoliants -- in Vietnam , eastern Laos , and parts of Cambodia as part of the aerial defoliation program known as Operation Ranch Hand , reaching its peak from 1967 to 1969 . For comparison purposes , an olympic size pool holds approximately 660,000 U.S. gal ( 2,500 m ) . As the British did in Malaya , the goal of the US was to defoliate rural / forested land , depriving guerrillas of food and concealment and clearing sensitive areas such as around base perimeters . The program was also a part of a general policy of forced draft urbanization , which aimed to destroy the ability of peasants to support themselves in the countryside , forcing them to flee to the U.S. - dominated cities , depriving the guerrillas of their rural support base . </P>
what was agent orange used for in the vietnam war
what was agent orange used for in the vietnam war
to defoliate rural / forested land , depriving guerrillas of food and concealment and clearing sensitive areas such as around base perimeters to destroy the ability of peasants to support themselves in the countryside , forcing them to flee to the U.S. - dominated cities , depriving the guerrillas of their rural support base
to defoliate rural / forested land , depriving guerrillas of food and concealment and clearing sensitive areas such as around base perimeters to destroy the ability of peasants to support themselves in the countryside , forcing them to flee to the U.S. - dominated cities , depriving the guerrillas of their rural support base