Talk:Tunnel rat

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"Of Puerto Rican descent'? Is that because Puerto Ricans are skinny little guys? Is this factually accurate? Wetman 05:05, 5 May 2004 (UTC) Yes this is accurate. For a good account (and statistics of actual tunnel rats) see the book "the tunnels of cu chi" by Tom Mangold and John Penycate Uh, the Cu Chi tunnels that were found by the Australian Engineer's Division of 4RAR that later were named the Tunnel Rats before it became a popularised American section of militaria you mean?  :P Sorry, I think you might be mistaken. The Australian's never really refered to themselves as "tunnel rats" but rather "ferrets" instead. It was the Americans who began using this term. "Ironically, among the favorites were the German Luger and Walther pistols..." Why is this ironic? They're good weapons. Or is this ironic because the United States was once at war with Germany? —Ortchel 03:47, 12 June 2006 (UTC) Excellent question. I'm removing the word "ironically." "The Australian's never really refered to themselves as "tunnel rats" but rather "ferrets" instead." Umm... No. That is wrong. Despite what you may have heard, the australian and Zew Zealander tunnel rats did indeed refer to themselves as "tunnel rats". To that end, I am adding them to the article. CeeWhy 07:47, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Official designation

Is there an official designation for the "tunnel rats"? It doesn't sound like a phrase that would be used by the government. Twin Bird 17:19, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Tunnel rats

My husband was an Australian tunnel rat, and can confirm that the Australians used this term.

Snakes, etc. were not just natural inhabitants of the tunnels. A favourite booby trap was to fasten a venomous snake inside a bamboo tube and fix it to the ceiling. Hungry and angry, it would bite the first person to come within reach. Tunnel rats learned quickly to detect the smell of snakes.

[edit] removed poem

I've removed the link to the poem because it didn't contain anything of factual significance and the language ('gook' and 'spook') could offend.