USAF Agent Orange Consultant Confirms C-123 Dioxin Contamination WAS Greater When First Flown in 1972-1982

In his 24 February 2009 recommendation "Decision Memorandum for Contaminated UC-123K Aircraft" that dioxin-contaminated C-123s stored at Davis-Monthan AFB be destroyed, the DoD consultant commented that the aircraft were less contaminated when tests were conducted in 1994, 1996, 2000 and 2009, than when aircrews flew and maintained them in the years 1973-1982!

OSD'S consultant is the gentleman so familiar with Agent Orange. At first, in the Air Force, he helped develop the military herbicide for use in Vietnam.

One must read his memo of February 2009 carefully! His memo is the most direct smack-down any war veteran could fear! Here is urged the prompt destruction of contaminated surplus C-123 transports stored at Davis-Monthan. He specifically urges the Air Force to attend to likely publicity the event would cause, stating "carefully-worded statements for the media" should be prepared. In other documents, OSD directs that instead of alarming words such as Agent Orange or dioxin in such statements, more benign descriptors of "aged Vietnam-era" aircraft, and that destruction was done because "this action is selected on the basis that these are old aircraft and have been in storage for many years" with little resale potential. Of course, on behalf of the Air Force, William Boor, Director of the 505th ACSS at Hill AFB, UT in November 2009 arranged the prohibition of any further sale of these valuable aircraft specifically "Because of Agent Orange contamination during the Vietnam War"!

This smack-down of C-123 veterans, aircrews whom this OSD consultant and retired USAF colonel publicly labeled "trash-haulers, freeloaders looking for a tax-free dollar from sympathetic congressmen", escalated to the point he recommended destruction of the contaminated C-123s to prevent veterans from learning about their exposure and subsequently approaching the VA for Agent Orange illness treatment. His February 2009 memo detailed the protection which the VA allows for other Agent Orange veterans and stressed media coverage of the destruction he recommended would alert C-123 veterans who did not know of their exposure, and might lead them to seek VA "presumptive compensation."

Does he believe veterans should be barred from such treatment of their exposures? Apparently, both the USAF and the VA eagerly received Young's guidance with the C-123 veterans. In response,  a grateful Major General Busch (the officer who approved destruction of the contaminated C-123s in 2010) promptly labeled Dr. Al Young "one of America's Best." Busch's letters even carried the subject line "Agent Orange airplanes".

Seems the C-123s were no longer Agent Orange airplanes once our veterans started worrying about our illnesses and deaths!

Latest Results - FOIA data re: C-123 Destruction Press Release

Received Friday, September 23: FOIA materials from 75th Air Base Wing, Ogden, Utah. I'd asked for all materials related to preparation of the 2010 press release describing the final destruction of the remaining C-123K/UC-123K aircraft at Davis-Monthan.


The press release was prepared to be held in case of media inquiry...not released but ready to hand to any inquisitive reporter. It is not clear that it was ever actually used.


What is outstanding is the obvious issue of Agent Orange and the efforts taken to prevent public awareness of the toxin. These were the "Agent Orange aircraft." These were aircraft that were going to be shredded and smelted, for the first time in AF history, solely because of their contamination by Agent Orange/dioxin. Memo after memo described them as the "Agent Orange aircraft." The contamination of the airplanes was the core of the problem, and the core of the worries expressed by leadership concerned about the public learning about this problem.


But never in the press release are the words "Agent Orange" used! Instead, careful wordsmithing resulted in an innocent-sounding announcement of old airplanes being recycled to make room for more storage....in all the paperwork involving these airplanes the only place "Agent Orange" wasn't mentioned was the final press release! Even their contractor balked at going along with that final description, there being so much open desert at DM and no need to create any free space. 


We note the 12 Nov 2009 special letter prepared by Mr. Wm. Boor, 505th ACSS, requesting that "because of the Agent Orange contamination during the Vietnam War", the planes be excluded from resale and salvage operation. Again...the entirety of the problem is Agent Orange! And the entirety of the problem today is the determination of the AF and the VA to avoid recognizing veterans who flew those planes as having been exposed, even though volumes of official documents make it clear we have been exposed to "extremely dangerous, extremely hazardous, extremely contaminated" airplanes!


Perhaps the worst news here is the continued influence of OSD's Agent Orange consultant. Cited throughout the materials is the reference to him as "Senior Consultant to the Office of Secretary of Defense" and other titles, and throughout these papers and all the others we've seen are his recommendations to immediately destroy the remaining C-123K/UC-123K aircraft...he seems to have been one of the key authorities in implementing the final solution, along with MG Busch.


The problem with that is OSD's obvious intense dislike of Reserve Component flyers, whom its' consultant elsewhere described as "freeloading, trash-haulers looking for a sympathetic congressman for tax-free dollars". The consultant, not one of DOD's key supporters of the Total Force Concept, cites in his recommendation for the planes' destruction the fact that the dioxin contamination will result in presumptive connection for Agent Orange VA benefits. Well, Duh!


What's the problem with that? Simply the fact that the veterans were exposed to dioxin on the C-123K/UC-123K three decades earlier! OSD stresses that the aircraft must be destroyed to prevent such claims, yet the veterans have already been exposed! The OSD consultant makes no mention of previous exposure by these individuals other than to remind base officials that such claims for presumptive exposure might surface unless the airplanes were destroyed and somehow the "media storm" over Agent Orange kept from developing.