Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans and Agent Orange Exposure

Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans and Agent Orange Exposure PDF

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2011-07-01

Total Pages: 158

ISBN-13: 0309162475

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Over 3 million U.S. military personnel were sent to Southeast Asia to fight in the Vietnam War. Since the end of the Vietnam War, veterans have reported numerous health effects. Herbicides used in Vietnam, in particular Agent Orange have been associated with a variety of cancers and other long term health problems from Parkinson's disease and type 2 diabetes to heart disease. Prior to 1997 laws safeguarded all service men and women deployed to Vietnam including members of the Blue Navy. Since then, the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) has established that Vietnam veterans are automatically eligible for disability benefits should they develop any disease associated with Agent Orange exposure, however, veterans who served on deep sea vessels in Vietnam are not included. These "Blue Water Navy" veterans must prove they were exposed to Agent Orange before they can claim benefits. At the request of the VA, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) examined whether Blue Water Navy veterans had similar exposures to Agent Orange as other Vietnam veterans. Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans and Agent Orange Exposure comprehensively examines whether Vietnam veterans in the Blue Water Navy experienced exposures to herbicides and their contaminants by reviewing historical reports, relevant legislation, key personnel insights, and chemical analysis to resolve current debate on this issue.

Combat at Close Quarters

Combat at Close Quarters PDF

Author: Edward J. Marolda

Publisher: Government Printing Office

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 86

ISBN-13: 9780945274735

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This work describes riverine combat during the Vietnam War, emphasizing the operations of the U.S. Navy’s River Patrol Force, which conducted Operation Game Warden; the U.S. Army-Navy Mobile Riverine Force, the formation that General William Westmoreland said “saved the Mekong Delta” during the Tet Offensive of 1968; and the Vietnam Navy. An important section details the SEALORDS combined campaign, a determined effort by U.S. Navy, South Vietnamese Navy, and allied ground forces to cut enemy supply lines from Cambodia and disrupt operations at base areas deep in the delta. The author also covers details on the combat vessels, helicopters, weapons, and equipment employed in the Mekong Delta as well as the Vietnamese combatants (on both sides) and American troops who fought to secure Vietnam’s waterways. Special features focus on the ubiquitous river patrol boats (PBRs) and the Swift boats (PCFs), river warfare training, Vice Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., the Black Ponies aircraft squadron, and Navy SEALs. This publication may be of interest to history scholars, veterans, students in advanced placement history classes, and military enthusiasts given the continuing impact of riverine warfare on U.S. naval and military operations in the 21st century. Special Publicity Tie-In: Commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War (Commemoration dates: 28 May 2012 - 11 November 2025). This is the fifth book in the series, "The U.S. Navy and the Vietnam War." TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction The First Indochina War The Vietnam Navy River Force and American Advisors The U.S. Navy and the Rivers of Vietnam SEALORDS The End of the Line for U.S. and Vietnamese River Forces Sidebars: The PBR Riverine Warfare Training Battle Fleet of the Mekong Delta High Drama in the Delta Vice Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr. Black Ponies The Swift Boat Warriors with Green Faces Suggested Reading

War in the Shallows

War in the Shallows PDF

Author: John Darrell Sherwood

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781523488766

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"At the height of the U.S. Navy's involvement in the Vietnam War, the Navy's coastal and riverine forces included more than 30,000 Sailors and over 350 patrol vessels ranging in size from riverboats to destroyers. These forces developed the most extensive maritime blockade in modern naval history and fought pitched battles against Viet Cong units in the Mekong Delta and elsewhere. War in the Shallows explores the operations of the Navy's three inshore task forces from 1965 to 1968. It also delves into other themes such as basing, technology, tactics, and command and control. Finally, using oral history interviews, it reconstructs deckplate life in South Vietnam, focusing in particular on combat waged by ordinary Sailors. Vietnam was the bloodiest war in recent naval history and War in the Shallows strives above all else to provide insight into the men who fought it and honor their service and sacrifice"--Publisher description

From the Rivers to the Sea

From the Rivers to the Sea PDF

Author: Richard L. Schreadley

Publisher: US Naval Institute Press

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13:

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Using interviews and official records, this volume traces the twenty-five year involvement of the United States Navy in Vietnam.

U.S. Marines In Vietnam: The Landing And The Buildup, 1965

U.S. Marines In Vietnam: The Landing And The Buildup, 1965 PDF

Author: Dr. Jack Shulimson

Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing

Published: 2016-08-09

Total Pages: 666

ISBN-13: 1787200833

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This is the second volume in a series of chronological histories prepared by the Marine Corps History and Museums Division to cover the entire span of Marine Corps involvement in the Vietnam War. This volume details the Marine activities during 1965, the year the war escalated and major American combat units were committed to the conflict. The narrative traces the landing of the nearly 5,000-man 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade and its transformation into the ΙII Marine Amphibious Force, which by the end of the year contained over 38,000 Marines. During this period, the Marines established three enclaves in South Vietnam’s northernmost corps area, I Corps, and their mission expanded from defense of the Da Nang Airbase to a balanced strategy involving base defense, offensive operations, and pacification. This volume continues to treat the activities of Marine advisors to the South Vietnamese armed forces but in less detail than its predecessor volume, U.S. Marines in Vietnam, 1954-1964; The Advisory and Combat Assistance Era.

Operation Passage to Freedom

Operation Passage to Freedom PDF

Author: Ronald Bruce Frankum

Publisher: Texas Tech University Press

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 9780896726086

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Very little has been written about the U.S. Navy in Vietnam in the immediate post-Korean War era, nor has the magnitude of American participation in the resettlement of Vietnam refugees following the 1954 Geneva Conference been explored. Beginning in the fall of 1954, U.S. Navy ships, as a part of Task Force 90, helped to relocate thousands of displaced North Vietnamese to South Vietnam following the separation of the nation at the 17th parallel. What those sailors accomplished during the three hundred days of Operation Passage to Freedom forever changed the lives of more than 310,000 Vietnamese who traveled on their ships. In Operation Passage to Freedom Ronald B. Frankum, Jr. recounts the events surrounding this enormous humanitarian evacuation that was the American military's first major involvement with the Vietnamese people. Based on archival research and interviews with more than forty sailors who participated in Task Force 90, Operation Passage to Freedom illuminates a mission that has been all but forgotten and also explores how the initial humanitarian involvement of the United States in Vietnam eventually led to massive military involvement in the 1960s and 1970s.