Operation Ranch Hand was a U.S. herbicidal warfare campaign during the Vietnam War from 1962 to 1971. It was a chemical defoliation operation, largely inspired by the British use of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D during the Malayan Emergency in the 1950s. It involved the spraying of the rainbow herbicides (Agents Green, Pink, Purple, Blue, White and Orange, color-coded ) to destroy the plant based ecosystem in Vietnam and deprive the enemy (Viet Cong soldiers) of agricultural food production and advantages in battle. Agent Orange was the most extensive and dangerous chemical sprayed during this campaign..
