Critical Analysis of “The Tunnels of Cu Chi” The book I read for my paper was The Tunnels of Cu Chi by Tom Mangold and John Penycate. The reason I chose this book is because I am very interested in the various aspects of some wars and I am definitely intrigued by the war in the tunnels of the Vietnam conflict. Imagine you are at war and you are going through a tunnel in the middle of the jungle. You have no idea what's in the tunnel but you think it might be the enemy. Your commander asks for volunteers to come in and investigate. Do you volunteer or not? That's the question some U.S. service members found themselves facing in the heat of the moment. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into, but with adrenaline pumping many gave it a try. They are now known as “tunnel rats” and this book is the story of what they experienced during their time in Vietnam. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay This book is one of the best books I have ever read on Tunnel Warfare. Every war has something unique, World War I was trench warfare, World War II was German blitzkrieg and the atomic bomb, and in Vietnam it was supposed to be warfare in the tunnels. US Special Forces units, trained in surface combat, practically had to start from scratch when it came to tunnels, all of their manuals having to be essentially rewritten with this new style of combat. The “Tunnel Rats” were a breed apart. These were men who needed a sense of adventure in a land of many unknowns, and these men, regardless of their rank, were highly regarded among their comrades. The tunnels themselves, although very simple in appearance, were quite effective in their construction. The tunnels were designed to withstand direct hits from 500-pound bombs, CS riot gas, water flooding, and destruction from above-ground vehicles moving overhead, and had the ability to detect by sound incoming aircraft from many miles away. The tunnels were underground cities; they had everything you can imagine, makeshift hospitals where doctors did everything from delivering babies to amputating limbs and performing brain surgery with tools like hand saws and homemade drills. They also contain conference rooms, dormitories, printing houses and munitions factories. Some Viet Cong soldiers would have to spend up to 5 years in the tunnels without leaving for more than a few hours. There were over 200 kilometers of tunnels in all, connecting all the hamlets of a village and other villages up to 20 km away. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves books about war or who is interested in mystery stories. While this isn't a mystery novel, just reading about some of the things that happened in the tunnels keeps you on your toes like a good mystery; you never know what to expect next. Some things you would think could never happen; for example finding complete printing presses or large, fully assembled field artillery pieces in the tunnels. You would never expect it but it happened very often. This was the main reason why American special forces units on search and destroy missions had difficulty finding the enemy, they buried everything and then safely dug it out during the night and put it back in the ground in the morning. Every aspect of everyday life that we take for granted on the surface was considered in the design and construction of the tunnel system. All the little things, from the way they cooked to the various booby traps.