I reckon this is one of the key values of a Blog. The truth will surface through a dialectical process that does not really exist elsewhere. Plus these postings are quite frequently revisited unlike much of the daily print media that expires as sunset every day. One posting from June of 2009 about Vietnam Veterans dying prematurely, has more hits than any of the other 400 posts! I am sure this one will have a long half life.
Director
Air Force Public Affairs
The Pentagon
Washington, DC
Dear Sir or Madam,
In April 2010 the 75th ABW, Hill AFB, Utah prepared in advance a press release describing the destruction of the remaining C-123K/UC-123K aircraft at the Davis-Monthan AFB.
Throughout the period 2000-2010, intense concern was raised at different agencies, including the Office of Secretary of Defense, the Air Staff, the Air Force Surgeon General, the Air Force Office of Environmental Law, the Deputy Undersecretary of the Army, HQ Air Force Material Command and more. The concern: dioxin contamination left on the aircraft from their Vietnam War service as Agent Orange spray aircraft in Operation Ranch Hand.
1993 seems to be the first time when tests were ordered on Patches, the Air Force Museum’s famous C-123, was tested before positioning inside the museum. It tested positive for dioxin…in the words of the Air Force test it was “heavily contaminated”.
More tests and correspondence abound during the period 1994-2000 with the only concerns expressed being the disposal of the aircraft, safety of personnel at the Boneyard, whether Walt Disney films should be told that two of the C-123s they purchased for movie production were contaminated, whether foreign governments should be informed that the aircraft transferred to them were contaminated, and similar correspondence.
In 1996 the Air Force Office of Environmental Law recommended the contamination be “kept within official channels”, a recommendation endorsed by the writer’s commander, the Director of the Office of Environmental Law.
In 2000 the Air Force joined with the General Services Administration in a court action to stop the contracted sale of some contaminated C123s. The federal judge took their evidence of the aircraft being “heavily contaminated, extremely dangerous, extremely hazardous, extremely contaminated” and other descriptions, and ordered the sale terminated.
In 2009 the AMARG/AFMC moved towards disposal of the remaining 21 aircraft, but they couldn’t be buried as they were too toxic for a landfill. The recommendation of the Office of Secretary of Defense (Dr Alvin Young, Senior Consultant) was to stop testing the aircraft immediately for toxicity…two of four had tested positive and his suggestion was that that result could be taken two ways.that “only two of the 21 aircraft were toxic”, or that “50% or more of the remaining aircraft were toxic.” As the testing was costly, Dr Young and base officials, acting on Dr Young’s authority from Office of Secretary of Defense, opted to shred the entire fleet of C-123s, having learned that shredded metal does not fall under EPA guidelines as did the aircraft…and there was a threatened $3,000,000,000 fine.
And there were the comments by Colonel Schneider at DM, who told the 75th ABW “he is concerned with the potential dissemination of information”), and museums which wanted them, and private buyers who wanted them so desperately they unsuccessfully sued in federal court to try to force a sale.
Dr Young also recommended that the public affairs at Hill and Davis-Monthan prepare for media inquiries. He mentioned an article from Orion Magazine, and discussed the worry that a media “storm” that might develop could inform Air Force Reservists who flew the airplanes between 1972-1982 that their dioxin-related illnesses might be brought to the VA for treatment. Various drafts of a press release were offered, and Dr Young along with other officials “corrected” the drafts by eliminating words such as “Agent Orange”, “dioxin”, “contamination” and replacing them with words less likely to alarm the public…Agent Orange and dioxin and contamination were replaced with “herbicide” and “aged Vietnam-era airplanes no longer flown.” The last part of the statements disregards the other Air Force memos about agencies desperate to purchase the valuable engines and propellers
In conclusion, a press release was crafted by the PA shop at the 75th Air Base Wing. It was not distributed, but held in case of media inquiry. This was a further element of the effort to minimize public awareness of the true story of the event.
No lies were told. Mistruths were constructed, however, to build a story which really had nothing to do with the real news of the event…dioxin contaminated aircraft. Nobody at the PA shop inquired of the managers of the event about the Air Force Reserve aircrews which had been exposed to dioxin on their airplanes for a full decade. Instead, the public affairs officers bent without objection, indeed, apparently with eager willingness, to construct a press release to deceive the media and the public, as well as the Air Force Reservists beginning to wonder why they have cancer, heart disease, acute peripheral neuropathy, ALS, and other dioxin-related illnesses.
While note part of the public affairs activity at either base, I note a possibly inappropriate use of a business title implying official actions within and by the Office of Secretary of Defense. Dr. Alvin Young was cited in several documents from HQ AFMC and the 75th Air Base Wing as Agent Orange “Senior Consultant to the Office of Secretary of Defense.” He used the title himself in memoranda, and his name and title were cited as authority for the decision by AMARG to shred and smelt 21 surplus C123K/UC-123K aircraft in 2010.
Further, his attitudes and reactions to Reserve Component aircrews are a specific concern, as in his position paper regarding the need for speedy destruction of the dioxin-contaminated aircraft, Dr Young mentions the media “storm” which might attend the operation and cause aircrews and maintenance workers with dioxin-related illnesses to seek care at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Concerned with the visibility of this event, which he frequently writes must be low key (and even congratulates base officials on concluding the operation with minimal public attention). There has been an obvious, skillful twisting of words to hide the actual event…destruction of dioxin-contaminated aircraft with a potential $3 billion dollar EPA or State of Arizona fine…by presenting a completely misleading press release. There is an ethical standard in preparation of press releases, but it was ignored here.
Dr. Young, who last week described the dioxin-exposed Air Force Reserve aircrews as “trash haulers, freeloaders looking for a sympathetic Congressman for tax-free dollars” seems an inappropriate person to be editing Air Force press releases especially when he helps direct the misinformation concerning events vital to my health….my friends and I flew those airplanes!
Thanks to various military-oriented editors and reporters, this story has changed quite a bit from what it could have been – the simple “destruction of Agent Orange contaminated aircraft in an environmentally responsible way” to one where the news value is in the early attempts to keep the information in official channels, to one where Air Force public affairs abused the trust of the public and media by misleading them through a poorly-crafted and deceptive press release, and where public affairs at both Hill AFB and Davis-Monthan AFB failed to bring to the attention of leadership their ethical responsibilities, and to alert their leaders as to the negative impact that failing to notify aircrews who’d been exposed to the toxins and the health dangers this press release was designed to conceal from us and our families.
I find this reprehensible.
Respectfully,
Wesley T. Carter, Major USAF
Retired http://c123kcancer.blogspot.com
It should be duly noted that I spent approximately 45 minutes on the phone with the Public Information Office at Hill AFB.
They are not in concurrence with the accuracy of this Press Release.
It would be their due diligence that would prompt a clarification or rebuttal to these assertions. I am not an investigative reporter and cannot corroborate any of declarations made in this press release. That is the duty of the reader and the author of this narrative.
It seems that the value of blogging has an inherent asset, in the both free speech, and the open space afforded for any ripostes.
The author of the Press Release has yet to respond to my inquiries.
I stand by what I wrote, a couple typos notwithstanding. I’ve put things together as best I could from the various FOIA results, materials from the Air Force Museum, my own site visits at Robins AFB, Hill AFB, Little Rock AFB and the Air Force Museum. I put things together from my own flight records and from flight orders and tail number records in our own log books. I’ve put things together after having submitted the Air Force test results on the airplanes to the Toxicology Department of Oregon Health Sciences University, which concluded that the AF tests were valid and that aircrews flying the airplanes had been exposed to dioxin.
It is clear that the principal focus of everyone at DM and Hill regarding the UC-123K was what to do with them, given the Air Force-conducted test results showing dioxin contamination. Even the sale of some was halted at the request of the AF and GSA who convinced the federal judge that the aircraft presented a treat to public health. “Extremely dangerous, extremely hazardous, extremely contaminated” are words we do not see in the press release prepared, but not distributed, by the 75th ABW PA shop. We do not see in their press release the memo from Mr. Wm. Boor, dated 12 Nov 09 in which he requests “Special Handling” of the UC-123s “because of Agent Orange contamination during the Vietnam War.” We do not see in the press release concern, expressed in one base memo, about a threatened $3.4 billion fine for storage of hazardous waste, which the aircraft could be considered to be.
An example: If the battleship takes a hit and sinks, the press release shouldn’t detail the fact that personnel previously assigned to the battleship are available for other assignments. A military unit’s press release should be what Ernie Pyle could take, chew on, and break the news that the public could understand. Does any knowledgeable aviation expert think that the press release from the 75th in any way tells the “story” of the Boneyard UC-123K aircraft?
The news meat here is:
1. the Air Force opted in 1996 not to release information that Patches, followed by other DM aircraft, tested positive for dioxin. The Air Force opted to continue not releasing information that further tests continued to show the presence of dioxin contamination
2. the Air Force did not address the issue of aircrews and maintenance personnel who, during the period 1972-1982, flew and maintained the UC-123K aircraft, with spray equipment removed, in the typical aeromedical and airlift missions; only parts of two sentences from the Senior Consultant to the Office of Secretary of the Air Force mentioned the Reserve crews who’d been exposed, and that was only an aside that if the media carried the story, those exposed personnel would approach the VA for care for their Agent Orange-presumptive illnesses. That same official in July of this year described the combat veterans who flew the aircraft as “trash haulers, freeloaders” …”looking for a sympathetic Congressman for tax free dollars.” I would not categorize a statement like this as supportive of the Total Force Concept. As a disabled, paralyzed war veteran from the Persian Gulf War who flew the Provider between 1973-1980, I find it highly insulting to be categorized this way by a non-aviator person whose only loss of blood in combat at was to mosquitoes in Florida
3. the press release early versions had appropriate words struck out in editing…words like Agent Orange and dioxin and contamination, specifically to reduce media and public attention and make the event a dull, easily ignored, routine why-read-all-the-way-through press release
4. the press release mentions the aircraft are no longer being flown, twisting the truth because they are indeed flown and had been sought for purchase by private buyers; the AF and GSA had to go to federal court to stop the sale; Hill’s FOIA had memos describing the rate and valuable engines, still needed in the aviation industry, but heeding Dr. Young’s advise, they too were destroyed because of possible dioxin contamination and to reduce any possible liability subsequent to a sale through DRMS
5. finally, this press release started preparation in 2009. Had the PA shop at Hill, had the Air Force itself put out the word about the dioxin contamination, those of us who flew the Provider…these very aircraft which we ourselves flew into storage at DM in 1982…we’d have had a couple years warning to look into health issues regarding Agent Orange exposure.
Instead, I was in my hospital bed after a heart attack and surgery, had a phone call that my cancer biopsy was positive, in April 2011 before I started looking into the Internet and wondering why my beloved United States Air Force, which I served for 26 years, had opted not to tell me and my brothers and sisters about this risk to our health. That’s a press release which would have served me well. That’s not the kind of press release carefully crafted by the PA shop at the 75th Air Base Wing, Hill AFB, Utah. Hill’s press release was not the kind of honesty and honor my commander would have accepted from me as a member of the Air Force, regardless of rank or office, in any of the paperwork I was expected to complete. That’s not the honesty the public and media deserve.
Shame on Hill. And I mean it literally! You had a chance two years ago to give me a heads-up about my possible exposure to Agent Orange, but you bent to the wishes of your masters instead of serving them and me better with honesty. Shame on Hill. Tom Philpott’s article which touched on the dioxin contamination was just the beginning of national attention to this deception.
The press release which is of such concern is at:https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B88rlJ4p_859YmRmMzVmZDYtZjcyZC00ZTdlLWJjMDktY2RiNmI1OThhNDg2&hl=en_US
To: Director, Public Affairs, Hill AFB
Sir or Madam:
Thank you for your daily service to the country and the Air Force, and for helping the public understand the mission of our service and the dedication our military and civilian servants show in so many ways.
I do not understand why you have failed to contact me if you feel I misstate the situation involving dioxin contamination of the UC-123K fleet, or your press release involving that aircraft’s destruction last year. Michael can give you my phone number or you can email me directly. If I can be corrected regarding any error, please explain what that error may be.
And public affairs folks know darn well the first thing you do with bad news is disarm it by explaining it truthfully. You can do that now. You could have done so in the “non-release” of the UC-123K event, but you didn’t serve the military well by letting others edit the material so far out of context. As I wrote, you offered no lies in the release…you simply failed to mention that the real event was the destruction of nearly two dozen aircraft, destroyed because of lingering Agent Orange fears.
Read Dr. Young’s memos again. Read the comments from others, including general officers, stressing the need for low visibility, the need to avoid media attention, the need to prevent pubic alarm. Virtually every single memo and email subject line was “contaminated” or “Agent Orange” or “Dioxin”…but none of these words were left after all the editing was done on your press release. Read again Dr. Young’s memo to Mr. Boor, congratulating the 505th on the low visibility of the event.
Read those emails from Dr. Alvin Young, Senior Consultant to the Office of Secretary of Defense, who stressed the need to prevent those “trash-hauling, freeloading” Air Force Reservists who have been exposed to Agent Orange (according to AFMC’s own tests!) from seeking medical care for their Agent Orange-presumtive illnesses.
Unless I read my fellow citizens wrong, it seems the public wants the VA to be responsive to the needs of war veterans, Active and Reserve, who have service-connected illnesses and injuries. Unless I read the various mission statements wrong in the PA shops I’ve visited in person and online, your press release did a great harm by word-smithing the event so as to not tell the public or the UC-123K veterans the proper truth. My complaint remains that your press release was deceptive, failed to inform and instead concealed information, and misdirected the attention of the media and the public rather than informed the citizenry.
I am still amazed, reading the various emails and messages provided in the FOIA responses from Hill and DM, that there were so many comments about the need to avoid media attention. Even your own press release wasn’t distributed but was prepared just in case some curious reporter poked in the right area. Your UC-123K press release cost you, and the Air Force, media trust and respect.
You yourselves would not accept such a low standard of behavior from the professionals who serve you. You wouldn’t accept it from your subordinates. You would be offended if this kind of behavior was presented by your supervisors and leaders in the service. At the Academy, what you did with the UC-123K information would be called dishonorable. From the Honor Code Handbook…
“Equivocation” or “quibbling” (i.e., using purposely vague, misleading, or ambiguous language, or leaving out pertinent information in a deceptive manner) falls within the jurisdiction of the Honor Code as lying.”
Public Affairs professionals have the vital role of telling the public (as well as those of us in the military) about the full range of the Air Force mission. About how lethal force is employed, how precious tax dollars are spent, and how the precious lives of our sons and daughters are spent in combat. Your UC-123K press release cost you public trust and confidence in your ability to tell the public the whole truth.
So don’t knock on the editor’s door, or the reporter’s. Man up…give me a call and explain why you think it was better not to tell me about my Agent Orange exposure in your UC-123K press release. Tell me why you feel it was better to have me wait another year for my cancer and heart disease progress, another year to pass before I learned I’d been intensely exposed to dioxin.
Agent Orange is a dreaded evil in our family. My father, Army Chief Warrant Officer Henry Carter, served a year at Phu Cat Air Base in Vietnam, one of the Ranch Hand stations. My father died of prostate cancer, one month after the VA approved his claim for Agent Orange exposure. Our brother-in-law, Sergeant First Class Willy Chiquina, died this summer of Alzheimer’s, perhaps due to dioxin exposure from his serve on Guam. One of the most wonderful men I’ve ever met, Master Sergeant Bob Boyd, a UC-123K flight instructor in our squadron, died at home of a heart attack while in his easy chair, reading his Bible.
And yesterday, our former wing vice commander, Colonel Paul Huffman, died as his cancers overcame him, hours after he asked his wife to let him leave the ICU and die at home. My own cancer, heart disease, diabetes, peripheral neuropathy, added to the spinal cord injury I had during the Persian Gulf War, worry me. Agent Orange worries me. It worries all of us who flew the contaminated UC-123K.
Had I read your press release properly written last year, I’d have been alerted to the fact of possible Agent Orange exposure. Time to watch those PSA numbers! Get into the Agent Orange Registry! Get a cardiac stress test! A PA warning to take some precautions. Your press release might have actually helped me and others like me. Instead, your press release failed us, failed the public, and failed the media which trusted you to represent the Air Force to the public.
Time to take an ethics course.
Respectfully,
W.T. Carter, Major, USAF
Retired
Forgot something that needed to be said: on 12 Nov 09 Mr William Boor wrote to 309 AMARG/CC to request permission…the title line reads “REQUEST FOR SPECIAL HANDLING OF 18 UC-123K Aircraft.” He writes “Because of Agent Orange contamination during the Vietnam War, I request that the 18 UC-122K aircraft currently in quarantine storage”, etc. Like virtually all other messages and letters, his treatment here of the UC123K focuses on AGENT ORANGE CONTAMINATION.
So, why wasn’t this the subject of the press release provided by the 75ABW when the aircraft were finally destroyed in 2010? The press release sure doesn’t sound like Mr. Boor’s letter, nor Dr. Young’s urgent messages to quickly (and quietly) destroy the contaminated aircraft, nor like Major General Busch’s letter of appreciation to Dr. Young dated 6 Aug 2010 where he writes “Thanks to your support, the remaining fleet of UC-123K aircraft used to distribute Agent Orange during the Vietnam War…were destroyed and smelted.”
It seems clear that the whole idea of the press release announcing the final disposition of the remaining UC-123K aircraft was to disarm, to distract, to misinform the media as well as the public that the aircraft were contaminated.
And it worked. Even veteran Boneyard observers failed to notice the aircraft gone for quite some time. None of the Air Force veterans who flew the UC-123K ever found out about it…at least, not until Hill’s gracious compliance with an FOIA provide the photos, videos, memos and all the other details. As General Busch put it, “the demilitarization of some of the most notable aircraft in USAF history was the final milestone in a 15-year-old project within a nearly 40 year-old-controversy.” Gosh, don’t you agree that his one sentence by itself has more sizzle, and truth, than the whole misleading press release?
Is it reasonable to believe that anybody who’d ever flown or maintained the UC-123K would have been helped by a more comprehensive and truthful press release that correctly detailed the Agent Orange history of this aircraft? Is it reasonable to believe that those who had flown or maintained the aircraft have been seriously harmed by the 75ABW’s deliberate prevarication?
Michael, we don’t see comments from Hill or DM here. Don’t they read your column? Any more 45-minutes sessions with them?
W.T. Carter
http://www.c123kcancer.blogspot.com
BTW, is there any way to get one of those cool souvenirs from the UC-123K which the AMARG fellows brought back from the smelting operation? Several of us who flew the airplane would appreciate the chance to buy one of those very unique mementos.
WTC
Wes, I am sure they are reading this and hoping that is has a short half life. Truth always emerges in its own time. As a Vietnam Veteran and victim of Agent Orange, we can be assured that the nation of veterans let very little un-truth die a natural death. Stay tuned.