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Biological Warfare results in Vietnam
Episode 2483 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a report about the Operation Sherwood Forest biological warfare executed by the US Military in Boi Loi Woods during the American Vietnam War.
In the previous episode (2482) of this podcast, a report by Professor Kenneth R. Olson about the Boi Loi Woods in Vietnam was featured. He reported that the situation in Boi Loi Woods was critically bad for the ARVN in 1965,
It seems the NVA and VC was effectively using it as cover for their operations against the ARVN. The ARVN did not have the ability to get rid of the menace posed by the murderous communists. Enter the U.S. Military who suggested a new approach utilizing fire and chemicals rather than manpower.
The plan was to dry the woods and then burn it to the ground. U.S. leadership came up with a four phase plan – Phase I, defoliation of target area; Phase II, weather evaluation to determine time for ignition; Phase III, air operations; and Phase IV, evaluation. The plan used for the Boi Loi Woods challenge was called Operation Sherwood Forest.
To better understand Operation Sherwood Forest an article titled Operation Sherwood Forest, Operation Hot Tip that appeared on the Global Security website will be featured in this podcast episode.
The article begins with this: In December 1965, the Joint Chiefs of Staff requested that the Secretary of Defense initiate research to determine the feasibility of measuring the flammability characteristics of forests and jungle growth, modifying flammability so that vegetation would readily support combustion and developing measures to destroy large areas of forest or jungle growth by fire. The research was subsequently conducted by the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture, under sponsorship of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) through ARPA Order 818.
Interest in this concept of operations had come in part from a fire bombing raid, code-named Operation Sherwood Forest, against the Boi Loi Forest, 25 miles west of Saigon in late March 1965.
Listen to episode 2483 and discover more about the Operation Sherwood Forest biological warfare executed by the US Military in Boi Loi Woods during the American Vietnam War.
