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MILITARY UNIT AND HERBICIDE SPRAYING DATABASES, AND EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT MODEL DEVELOPMENT 14 software systems. The data library was documented and written to CD-ROM. All programs and databases are now VAX-independent. The AOVPP database exposures were calculated by using 1-month periods. However, the original data sources contain considerably finer time detail for many military units; in many instances, biweekly data exist; and in a few cases, daily coordinates were abstracted. The researchers went back to the original tapes to make the more detailed data available. All data were converted from the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate system used by the US military to a Cartesian11 system more amenable to the required modeling. The researchers also appended the Department of Defenses (DOD) uniform unit-identification system designation, the Unit Identification Code (UIC), to the information in the files. Identifying Units That Served in Vietnam In addition to reconstructing the existing troop-movement databases and determining where gaps or inconsistencies existed, the researchers updated the UIC LIST, a compilation of all the unit-identification numbers developed by ESG for military units with service in Vietnam. The UIC LIST had not been designed to be a comprehensive catalog of the units but rather was developed by ESG for its work in support of VA and the Centers for Disease Control12 (CDC), as a recordkeeping system. It thus represented, to a large extent, units to which a VA or CDC study subject may have been assigned and units that had been identified for other study- specific purposes. The Columbia University researchers systematically examined the UIC LIST, compared and combined it with other data sources on military units, and created a master list. The master list is the first easily accessible and cross-referenced comprehensive list of all Army units that were stationed in Vietnam and the numbers of troops assigned to them in Vietnam. Where possible, the database also includes the identification of the next-higher command to which a unit was assigned. The next-higher command provides important 11 The Cartesian system expresses coordinates in terms of latitude and longitude. 12 Now called the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.