Who is responsible for the men of Site C-52A? (VIDEO)

Five decades after they were exposed to high levels of Agent Orange and other toxic chemicals in the 1960s, a group of defense contractors has become a political hot potato.

From 1962 to 1970, the Air Force conducted tests of different delivery systems for the notorious herbicide, which was used as a defoliant during the Vietnam War. Employees of defense contractor Vitro Services helped set up and conduct those tests at Site C-52A, located about a mile and a half northeast of the Choctaw Beach community in Walton County.

Like thousands of Vietnam veterans, the Vitro employees — many of whom worked at Eglin’s Chemical and Biological Laboratory — came in frequent physical contact with Agent Orange and a rainbow of other colorfully named herbicides.

Like those veterans, many of the contractors have developed diseases and conditions that the U.S. government has linked to Agent Orange exposure.

Unlike those veterans, however, the contractors are not eligible for compensation administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs because they weren’t in the military when they were exposed.

Which leads to a question that is simple to ask but difficult to answer:

Who is responsible for what happened to the men who worked at Site C52-A?

‘A barefoot boy at the gate’

Crestview resident Sam Jordan and two of his former co-workers at Eglin’s Chemical and Biological Laboratory have vivid memories of the testing they helped conduct at Site C-52A.

“I remember one time, it was right about dark, and three teams of us were just boiling dirt in our trucks, trying to get out of the way before the plane flew in to spray,” Jordan recalled. “But before we could get away, it just zoomed in and covered us.”

VIDEO: Listen to an interview with Sam Jordan >>

Getting doused with Agent Orange was not an uncommon occurrence on the Eglin range, where the Air Force eventually sprayed more than 20,000 gallons of the toxic cocktail.

As Niceville resident Tommy Owens recalled, most of the work was done without the benefit of protective gear.

“We did have some old World War II-style gas masks we could wear,” he said with a laugh. “But everyone told us that the stuff was harmless.”

Harmless isn’t the word Jordan would use.

“It turned out to be Roundup on steroids,” he added.

While Owens believes the Air Force didn’t know how harmful Agent Orange would turn out to be, he doubts that such knowledge would have made much difference for the workers who considered themselves lucky to have a job.

“You have to remember that we were just young kids at the time — 19, 20 years old,” he said. “There wasn’t a job on every corner. The saying at the lab was that if you didn’t like your job, there was a barefoot boy standing at the gate waiting to take your place.”

Unanswered questions

As time went by and the federal government began to acknowledge the dangers of Agent Orange, Owens and Jordan and some of their co-workers at Vitro began to question what effects exposure may have had on them and their families.

“There are just so many unanswered questions about this whole deal,” said Crestview resident Wayne Jones. “We’d come home covered with this stuff after working out there. We’d bring it home to our families.

“I lost my wife to cancer. Did Agent Orange kill her? I don’t know.”

Jordan points out that at least three lab employees had children born with birth defects, and wonders if there was some connection to their work with Agent Orange.

“I’d like to know why we were used as ... maybe the term is guinea pigs,” he said. “What did it do to us and our families when we brought it home?”

‘A cynical attempt to shift the blame’

While the Department of Veterans Affairs has continued to expand the eligibility pool for veterans who may have been exposed to Agent Orange, civilians like the Vitro contractors continue to fall through the cracks.

One former contractor, who requested anonymity, said he unsuccessfully attempted to file a lawsuit over his exposure several years ago.

“My big mistake was not realizing that we didn’t work for the U.S. government,” he said. “We worked for Vitro, a company that’s been defunct for years.”

A public affairs representative for the Office of the Air Force Surgeon General issued the following statement concerning the contractors:

“The Air Force cares very deeply about the total force, including contract employees,” the statement said. “In this situation the best advice the Air Force can offer these former Eglin AFB contract employees is to file a worker’s compensation claim through the state of Florida.”

That advice didn’t sit well with State Sen. Don Gaetz, who said he was “surprised and disappointed” by the Air Force Surgeon General’s response.

“This sounds like a cynical attempt to shift the blame from the federal government to the state government,” Gaetz said. “In order for a workman’s comp claim to be filed, there has to have been an injury.

“For the Air Force Surgeon General to suggest filing a claim is a tacit admission that the contractors suffered harm from Agent Orange. I don’t think the state of Florida was doing any testing of Agent Orange.”

Time is running out

Gaetz compared the Air Force Surgeon General’s comments to a “Pontius Pilate type of statement.”

“Shouldn’t the federal government stand behind the people who did the government’s job?” he asked. “In my view, the Surgeon General has provided linkage that leads right back to the Pentagon.”

While different agencies give varying reasons why they cannot help the contractors, time is running out. Most of the men affected are in their 70s or 80s, and many have already passed away.

It’s difficult to see any possible relief on the horizon.

“While they may never be recognized for their sacrifices as we honor veterans today, the defense contractors at Eglin Air Force Base play a vital role in defense of our nation,” U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller said. “They put their health on the line in support of our men and women overseas, and now they are suffering from the same debilitating illnesses as those who served. Agent Orange is every bit as dangerous when sprayed in Florida as in Vietnam.”

Agent Orange was a herbicide mixture used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. Much of it contained a dangerous chemical contaminant called dioxin. Production of Agent Orange ended in the 1970s and is no longer in use. The dioxin contaminant however continues to have harmful impact today. As many U.S. Vietnam-era veterans know, dioxin is a highly toxic and persistent organic pollutant linked to cancers, diabetes, birth defects and other disabilities.

The Red Cross estimates that 3 million Vietnamese have been affected by dioxin, including at least 150,000 children born with serious birth defects. Millions of Americans and Vietnamese are still affected, directly and indirectly, by the wartime U.S. spraying of Agent Orange and other herbicides over southern and central Vietnam.

Agent Orange was sprayed at up to 50 times the concentration the manufacturers recommended for killing plants. It defoliated millions of acres of forests and farmland. Much of that land remains degraded and unproductive to this day. The chemical dioxin in Agent Orange remains toxic for decades and is still found in very high concentrations in “hot spots” in Vietnam.

After its use in the 1960s, Agent Orange was banned by the U.S. in 1971 and remaining stocks were taken from Vietnam and the U.S. to Johnston Atoll, an American-controlled island about 700 miles southeast of Hawaii, where it was destroyed in 1978.

-aspeninstitute.org

WHAT IS AGENT ORANGE?