Why didn't they just blow the tunnels up rather than send tunnel rats down to possibly get killed like many did?

There was some intelligence received, I’m guessing.

Could have been POWs inside. The VC had hospitals in tunnels.

The tunnels were multi-level ,90 degree turns, almost impossible to destroy with explosives.

This is my understanding too

A good friend of mine was a tunnel rat in Viet Nam. He said he liked it, everyone made sure he stayed safe because no one wanted his job if he got hurt. Besides making sure they were clear there was intellegence to be gathered and such

Not much scares me but there's two things that can keep me laying awake with anxiety at night, sharks and imagining crawling through those tunnels.

It sure took a special sort of courage to go crawling through those tunnels.

Great book on the tunnel network "The Tunnels of Cu Chi."

A bit claustrophobic here.......Tunnels would be way beyond my ability......jk

Me too and that's before booby traps and people shooting at me

Many complex's were collapsed using old WW2 Blockbuster bombs we called "Daisey Cutters". Too big to fit in a bomber, they were strapped to a skid and dumped out the back of a C-130. They were fitted with a long boom on the detonator to clear an instant LZ too. Google it, they have some great footage of them in action.

Tunnels were very complexed , had several entrances. Some where very large, and passages. Never went into one, but reconned 2 different tunnels, first 1 , in Black Forest Mts, near Tay Ninh. 2nd was A Sau Valley, near boarder of Laos, some bad Indian country. The tunnel Rats, were forunate both were abandoned, they found medical, and stored supplies. Spent 2 days, reconning area and helping the 101st, guard the Tunnel Rats. Wasn't there when they they were destroyed, Demo people landed I rode there ride out. Those tunnels, were hard to find. Got lucky, was set up reconning area, and watched and seen movement and then the gooks diappeared