"Tunnel Rats" is an informal nickname for US military units during the Vietnam War, which specialized in operations in underground tunnels dug by Vietnamese guerrillas
"Tunnel Rats" is an informal nickname for US military units during the Vietnam War, which specialized in operations in underground tunnels dug by Vietnamese guerrillas. The tunnels went 20-25 meters deep, turning into underground cities. The Viet Cong built hospitals, training camps, warehouses, barracks, kitchens, printing houses, all underground. Once they were able to bury an entire tank. At first, the Americans sent dogs into the underground caves, but they were quickly blown up by mines and died. I had to send people. The first such detachment was formed on the basis of the 25th Infantry Division. Such detachments recruited exclusively volunteers - athletic, thin fighters, no higher than 165 cm. It took an average of three months to train "tunnel rats", they learned to look for mines, bypass traps, and plant explosives. The specialty was considered extremely dangerous, being in the tunnels was a heavy burden on the psyche, the fighter...