How This Tunnel Rat Survived The Vietnam War | Veteran Interview 

May he rest in peace

May he rest in peace.

Rest in piss

I will never forget 🫡🙏🇺🇸

He sacrificed for enriching the war mongers. He made the war machine rich. We lost that war and now see the result. We buy from Vietnam, we go as tourist. Do not think i know nothing about that war. i was ther myself, and saw so much waste of money and man power. i was lucky to get out of it alive.

It's a hell of an experience. Some would talk about it because it helps and others want to forget because it's like yesterday 40 years later.

You kidding, EXPONENTIALLYOFF THE CHARTS I bet.

Probably slept with a light on...if you had a family member come back from the war, you would not wake him up in a conventional manner...that might get you kicked half way across the room...

@@edgaraquino2324 I was too big to be a tunnel rat. To the best of my knowledge our company (infantry company stationed 24/7 jungle hilltops) didn't have any tunnel rats among us. I was wounded after nine months and sent home. In the nine months in the jungle, I saw two tunnels. Both were about as big around as trash can. They both went straight down about twenty feet before they turned. We dropped CS gas grenades followed by a M26 frag grenade hoping we could flush something out. We had no idea their tunnels ran on and on. I was there in 1968 and the size of their tunnels were not really known until after the war. I was in the central highlands of the country. The guy in this video was probably in another part of VN where they used more tunnels.

50 years of it

My great uncle never went completely dark. He had night lights and a little flash light around his neck 24/7. He also made a sound proof room in his basement because fireworks would send him into an episode

What freedom you moroon? Freedom for who?

Thank you so much for your heroic service in the Vietnam war for all who where there especially the personal in the field. Such brave men . Don't hang your heads be proud you are very special soldiers.

Approximately 25% Vietnam veterans were drafted. Thanks to all the men and women who served.

Yup what a Saint.

Let alone finding yourself in a war zone thousands of miles from home, being a tunnel rat is with certainty one of the extra extraordinary experiences one could endure. The fear of the unknown, fear of the dark, fear of tight spaces, the fear of being underground, the fear of being buried, fear of getting lost inside, the fear for traps, the fear of actually meeting another human being down there, the fear of having to kill that someone, the fear of getting killed yourself. It doesn't matter if you belong to the most powerful army in the world, it's just you alone and whatever it may be you are crawling towards to. I can't imagine the courage demanded to overcome all of this and enter one of these tunnels somewhere nowhere.

I bartended for 4 vietnam veterans that all came in around 2 in the afternoon every day. Over the course of 8 years I only ever heard 2 stories between all 4 of these guys: one was about a tiger that was circling his camp all night and they could hear it , the other one was pretty bad about his buddy. One of these guys in the group was a tunnel rat.

So?

@@4TengrisSakethey had no idea what they were gonna do when they were out there your small you go in there’s no arguing and saying i don’t feel like it so yea they were “forced” to go into these tunnels

I recently read James Gillam's book and in his company it was voluntary and you could say no if you wanted, which he did a few times. Maybe other companies had a different attitude

@@TheIvanMilky I think you'd almost have to be a psychopath to blame someone for not being willing or able to enter such a tunnel. I know people with acrophobia can start to shake uncontrollably when they are just a couple rungs up a ladder to a point where they can barely climb down without help. As a tunnel rat you have to overcome probably more than a dozen different fears.

I saw man give a interview, he was a tunnel rat in Nam. He said all the other soldiers respected the tunnel ratsand nobody messed with you. He said after a mission he got all the beer he wanted. The man said for him going in the tunnels and engaging the enemy was better than having sex . He seemed messed up.

Tunnel rat types? We’re they or were they not?? You fought in Vietnam?

The specific guys I'm talking about were indeed official 'T-Rats'. I phrased my comment in that way because my understanding was that there were TR's from several nations who operated in VN, not just Aussies. When I describe them as bravest sob's , I meant it then and still mean it now, and while I've survived some pretty damned dangerous and scary stuff throughout my own life, because of my own adventures as a kid, the thought of getting trapped in a tiny confined space deep underground with people all around trying to kill me, well, that still just scares the hell out of me. As concerns fighting in VN, I was once asked to leave an "SDS" (Students for a Democratic Society) recruitment rally, for quite honestly responding to the inquiry as to where I was from: "Well, I was born in Texas, raised in the High Rockies of Colorado, but I grew up in Viet Nam." B y the time I quit, except for Antarctica, I had 'fought' in one capacity or another on every other continent, but,,,,,NEVER as a TR:)

@@seeratlasdtyria4584 cool response thanks for taking your time out to write that. So you were actually a soldier in Vietnam? I see a lot of American soldiers talking about iraq/Afghanistan & how hard it was, even though it was a mismatch war & allies only lost a small amount of soldiers. Comparing to the Russia war where hundreds are dying everyday on the front line. No soldiers in the west know REAL WAR. Which is why I respect the USA war veterans of Nam, ww1/ww2 because you guys fought real adversaries and lost a lot of men. Respect to you sir. What was it like in Vietnam during battles? What were the Aussie soldiers like as I’ve heard a lot of their toughness

@@ayrefik6089 Your questions require a highly nuanced response. In reverse order( remember I'm a Texan) Imho having spent some time in Australia in the 'Out Back' Station area, (cattle ranchers) it seemed to me that the Aussies often do things the HARD way:) Their then method of gathering cattle, called a muster, involved riding them down on horseback with packs of MEAN dogs through gawdawful thorned brush, then throwing them by riding up into them , and knocking them off balance while jerking the tail sideways. Compared to US roping, it was hella dangerous and hard; both on the stock, the riders/horses/ and dogs. In battle? well, the only fighting I ever did along side the Aussies was in an Australian pub and, I'd rather be WITH them, than Against them:) As for fighting in VN, I should tell you that I was primarily a peculiar type of LEO: a FORCES COMMAND, XVIII Airborne Spcl Serv/Wfare "SKYDRAGON". As you might surmise , accordingly I usually worked alone or with at most a handful of other soldiers. If I remember correctly, in VN, the largest unit along with which I engaged in combat was 18 men. In the end, it did not go well, all were injured, most died, and that's all I have to say about it. As someone who is now approaching my own 'expiration' date, I offer you and any others who might happen to read this, the following observations: First , Wars should be fought TOP DOWN and not Bottom UP. I suspect that then we'd have a LOT fewer wars. Second, in my humble opinion while we may justifiably 'glorify' the actions of a very small number of certain 'warriors', 'War' itself seems to me the absolute most despicable and horrific endeavor in which our Species engages. That being said, wars all too often cannot, and sometimes should not, be avoided as they are brought about due to the intentional machinations of an extremely small number of humans who appear to have no limits to their aspirations, nor depths of depravity to which they will not sink, as well as no limits to the pain, injury, and suffering they are willing to inflict on others, if not restrained - all in pursuit of their own personal desires. In my mind at least, they thereby relinquish any and all rights they may have otherwise had to exist amongst the rest of Humanity. There is Evil in this world, and when not timely and vigorously opposed, it conquers.

@@seeratlasdtyria4584 I’m not American but thanks for your service. Interesting to here about the differences of Aussie outback & American south … would you say the Australians are similar to your southern redneck/cowboy folk? When you found out you were going to Vietnam, we’re you scared or excited? Did you factor in your own mortality could be at the expense of this war or no? Also, what was the overall vibe of Vietnam. Was it death & destruction, unhappy people & general unpleasantness of war, or was it more so boring until combat started etc. we’re there enjoyable parts of war (not talking doing good deeds for Vietnamese or emotional side) I mean, in terms of the actual war it’s self, we’re there things you enjoyed? Maybe the adrenaline of combat, or not having rules like normal society etc.