tunnel rats
Subterranean combat specialists
Tunnel rats were American soldiers in the Vietnam War who entered and cleared enemy tunnel systems.
The Viet Cong built extensive underground networks for hiding, storage, and movement, and clearing them required small-statured volunteers willing to crawl into confined spaces armed with only a pistol and flashlight.
The term now applies loosely to anyone who works in cramped underground conditions.
- booby trapsConcealed devices triggering harm
- darknessTotal absence of light
- listening postsSites for covert surveillance
- soldierArmed forces member
- claustrophobiaDread of enclosed areas
fear · dust · crawling · crawl space · Viet Cong · warfare · dirt · entrapment · searches · confined spaces · tight spaces · mud · guerrilla warfare · knife · hand to hand · veteran · trapdoors · military
- Vietnam WarVietnam War, Vietnam, Tet Offensive, My Lai Massacre, Viet Cong
- infantryfoot soldiers, foot soldier, rifleman, riflemen, infantryman
tunnel ratsbomber crews
Personnel operating military aircraft
aerial reconnaissance · fighter pilots · naval personnel · paratroopers · artillerymen
tunnel ratsstrategic bombers
Aircraft for distant targets
long-range artillery · bomber pilots · artillery crews · artillery units · air cavalry
tunnel, tunnels, tunneled, tunneling, tunneller, tunnellers, rat, rats, ratty