January 13, 1985

''THE wind would blow the oily spray back on you through the open doors of the helicopter,'' Frank Garofalo said, recalling his seven months with a chemical platoon in Vietnam. ''We had special fatigues that were just all full of what we called defoliant. I had no idea that it was called Agent Orange.'' It was not until last year, Mr. Garofalo said, when he showed the state's Agent Orange Commission photographs of ''barrels with orange rings around them'' that he found out what he had been spraying. ''I was a young kid, only 20, and you didn't question authority,'' he said. ''Things have changed since then. We learned to question authority a little more.''

A plan to tie businesses, industries and new housing along the Route 110 corridor in Melville into the Southwest Sewer District is under debate in the Town of Huntington. The Town Board will vote Tuesday to schedule a public hearing on the plan, according to Supervisor John J. O'Neil. The plan entails forming a new sewer district in Melville to collect and treat industrial and domestic waste before dumping it into the pipes of the adjoining Southwest District. Many town officials believe the proposed district is needed to protect groundwater supplies and foster continued development in the rapidly growing Melville area. But they anticipate that the construction history of the Southwest Sewer District, which led to charges of patronage in letting contracts, and the cost overruns and high taxes associated with the project will invite public opposition to the proposal.

''The glass container makers, who have been losing customers to both the plastic and metal container industries for years, are now fighting for survival,'' said H. Edward Schollmeyer, who monitors the struggle for Paine Webber Inc. ''By the end of 1985, we believe only a few will still be around.'' The latest blow comes from the soft-drink industry in the form of a three-liter plastic bottle, now starting to appear on supermarket shelves in the South.

ONE key to understanding power in Washington is knowing which election - the one to come, or the one just past - counts most. In 1981, President Reagan had a high-riding honeymoon because the capital was in the thrall of the Republicans' 1980 sweep. By early 1982, with the midterm elections approaching, his party was in a defensive mood. This year, normal rhythms seem upset. With astonishing speed, Washington - if not the public - is discounting Mr. Reagan's 1984 landslide, and power, initiative and political talent are ebbing away from the White House. The burst of Cabinet and staff switches last week was but another symptom of the dynamics of change. After triumphantly proclaiming that he would keep his winning team, President Reagan has found himself with new Cabinet officers in the Treasury, Interior, Energy and Education Departments and a new White House chief of staff. Yet the motion brought in no new faces. Nor did it seem to signal a grand new strategy, but rather a battle against tired blood by shuffling the lineup.

WHEN President Reagan announced the surprise job-swap of Treasury Secretary Donald T. Regan and White House chief of staff James A. Baker 3d, two of his closest aides, most of the immediate reaction centered on the personal chemistry each would bring to his new role and the relative power each would exert. Though such personal details intrigue Washington insiders, in fact the personnel shuffle in the higher reaches of the Reagan Administration reflects major changes in the economic policymaking process itself. In a city that for more than two decades has elevated economists to the highest ranks of government, this Administration continues to shun, even publicly ridicule, these professionals. And now, Mr. Regan, one of the economists' sternest critics, a man without formal economic training and one who came to Washington from Wall Street without any clearly enunciated ideas on economic policy, has emerged as the President's top strategist and the major architect of his economic policy. It was Mr. Regan, who said a year ago that Martin S. Feldstein - an eminent professor from Harvard University who was then chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors - should throw away his annual economic report because it raised doubts about some Administration policies. The same Mr. Regan, in his new role as gate-keeper to the Oval Office, will control access to the President of any economist or purveyor of economic thought or policy.