Editing Tunnel rat (section)

==In the Vietnam War==
During the Vietnam War, "tunnel rat" became an unofficial specialty for volunteer [[combat engineer]]s<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.usace.army.mil/About/History/Historical-Vignettes/Military-Construction-Combat/062-Viet-Cong-Tunnels/ |title=Historical Vignette 062 - How Army Engineers Cleared Viet Cong Tunnels |website=U.S. Army Corps of Engineers |date=January 2003 }}</ref> and [[infantry]]men from the [[Australian Army]] and the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] who cleared and destroyed enemy tunnel complexes. Their motto was the tongue-in-cheek [[Latin]] phrase ''Non Gratum Anus Rodentum'' ("not worth a rat's ass").<ref>Tom Mangold and John Penycate, ''The Tunnels of Cu Chi: A Harrowing Account of America's Tunnel Rats in the Underground Battlefields of Vietnam'' (New York: Random House, 1986).</ref>

In the early stages of the war against the [[French Far East Expeditionary Corps|French colonial forces]], the [[Viet Minh]] created an extensive underground system of tunnels, which was later expanded and improved by the [[Viet Cong]]. By the 1960s, the tunnel complexes included hospitals, training areas, storage facilities, headquarters, and barracks. These diverse facilities, coupled with sophisticated ventilation systems, allowed VC [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrillas]] to remain hidden underground for months at a time.{{cn|date=November 2023}}

During the [[Vietnam War]], [[ANZUS]] troops uncovered a great number of enemy tunnels while patrolling or conducting larger operations.  The men of the 3 Field Troop, an Australian combat engineering unit that served in Vietnam from 1965 to 1966, have made a convincing argument that they were the first allied troops to enter the tunnels.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Tunnel Rats|last=Thomson|first=Jimmy with Sandy MacGregor|publisher=Allen & Unwin|year=2011|isbn=9781742374895|location=Melbourne, Australia}}</ref> Tunnel rats were given the task of destroying them, gathering intelligence within them, and killing or capturing their occupants—often in conditions of close combat. Typically, a tunnel rat was equipped with only a standard issue [[M1911 pistol]] or [[M1917 Revolver|M1917 revolver]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historic-firearms.com/m1917-revolver.html |title=M1917 revolver |website=historic-firearms.com }}</ref> a [[bayonet]], a [[flashlight]], and [[explosive]]s.

Many tunnel rats reportedly came to dislike the intense [[muzzle blast]] of the relatively large [[.45 ACP|.45 caliber round]], as the .45's loud report could often leave one temporarily deaf when fired in a confined space.<ref name="Dockery">{{cite web |author=Kevin Dockery |url=http://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=2423 |title=Tunnel Weapon: The Bang in the Dark |website=smallarmsreview.com |date=June 2002 }}</ref> Consequently, some preferred to clear tunnels armed with a [[.38 Special]] revolver equipped with a [[Silencer (firearms)|sound suppressor]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sadefensejournal.com/wp/?p=2724 |title=Weapons Lab: Small Arms Development at USALWL |website=Small Arms Defense Journal |date=25 August 2014 }}</ref> and other non-standard weapons.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.amazon.com/Beneath-Bamboo-Vietnam-War-Story-ebook/dp/B00APSQ5CO/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1477855535&sr=1-5|title=Beneath the Bamboo: A Vietnam War Story|last=Jones|first=Jonathon|language=en}}</ref> "A few of the [[Office of Strategic Services|OSS]]-ordered [[World War II]] era suppressed High Standard HD .22 automatics made their way into Tunnel Rat hands. But these weapons were very few in number and wanted by a number of other special units. Personal weapons were used by the rats, ranging from .25 caliber automatics to [[Sawed-off shotgun|sawn-off shotguns]]."<ref name="Dockery"/>

Besides enemy combatants, the tunnels themselves presented many potential dangers to tunnel rats. Sometimes they were poorly constructed and they would simply collapse. Tunnels were often [[booby trap]]ped with hand [[grenade]]s, [[anti-personnel mine]]s, and [[punji stick]]s. The VC would even use venomous snakes (placed as living booby traps). [[Rat]]s, [[spider]]s, [[scorpion]]s, [[centipede]]s and [[ant]]s also posed threats to tunnel rats. [[Bat]]s also roosted in the tunnels, although they were generally more of a nuisance than a threat. Tunnel construction occasionally included anti-intruder features such as U-bends that could be flooded quickly to trap and drown the tunnel rat. Sometimes [[List of highly toxic gases|poison gases]] were used. A tunnel rat might therefore choose to enter the tunnels wearing a [[gas mask]] (donning one within was frequently impossible in such a confined space). According to U.S. tunnel rat veterans, however, most tunnel rats usually went without gas masks because wearing one made it even harder to see, hear, and breathe in the narrow dark passage ways.{{cn|date=November 2023}}

Tunnel rats were generally men of smaller stature ({{cvt|165|cm|ftin}} and under), who were able to maneuver more comfortably in the narrow tunnels.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-conflicts-periods/vietnam/tunnel-rats.htm |title=The Tunnel Rats of Viet Nam |work=Viet Nam |publisher=Digger History: an unofficial history of the Australian & New Zealand Armed Forces}}</ref> Tom Mangold and John Penycate, authors of one of the definitive accounts of tunnel warfare during the Vietnam War, reported that the U.S. tunnel rats were almost exclusively soldiers of [[European Americans|European]] or [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic]] descent, many of whom were [[Puerto Ricans in the United States|Puerto Rican]] or [[Mexican American]].<ref name="mangold">{{cite book |title=The Tunnels of Cu Chi |first=Tom |last=Mangold |author2=John Penycate |publisher=Presidio Press |year=2005 |isbn=0-89141-869-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/tunnelsofcuchi00tomm }}</ref>

[[File:Cu Chi Tunnels , Ho Chi Minh City ,Vietnam.webm|thumb|Video showing Củ Chi Tunnels complex]]

By Mangold and Penycate's account, the tunnel rats first garnered public attention in January 1966, after a combined U.S. and Australian operation against the [[Củ Chi tunnels]] in [[Bình Dương Province]], known as [[Operation Crimp]]. The "Diehards" of the [[U.S. Army]]'s [[1st Engineer Battalion]] later were tunnel rats during their rotation through the [[Củ Chi District]] of [[South Vietnam]] in 1969.<ref name="mangold"/>

In the years since the Vietnam War ended, tunnel rats have suffered from a high percentage of [[Agent Orange]] injuries and diseases due to soldiers' exposure to the chemicals on the ground, or that leached from topsoil into the tunnel environment. While in the tunnels, soldiers were breathing air heavily saturated with Agent Orange.{{cn|date=November 2023}}

{{clear|left}}