Did the Us Government hire Thai people during Vietnam to work as tunnel rats?

Question

Some guy came up to me and said he worked in NKP as a tunnel rat for the US Army in Vietnam. He was old enough and spoke some English but he seemed to be hitting the lao-lao pretty hard.

Answer 1

The NVA and VC did construct a lot of tunnel networks and since they were "slightly smaller" than most US GI's the tunnels were a little narrow in some places. It would make sense to use the smallest guy to crawl in to investigate or set some charges.  

I don't remember reading or personally seeing any Thai's in the US employ for this particular job. Thai troops were in Nam but my best guess that they did their own tunnel exploring and the US did their own exploring!   There were always joint type missions, I guess it would be prudent to use what ever particular resources available to get the job done.  

Interesting question, right up there with Air America, Nung Guards, Biet Hai, "Chu Hois" and various Montagnard/Hmong forces.

Answer 2

Who was hitting the lao-lao a bit too hard?   Of course the Thai military had troops in Nam, but  I never heard of any being tunnel rats.It could have been a good idea since they are smaller then Americans and could pass through the tunnels easier..

The only NKP I know of was the abbreviation used for the US Air Base.