2.3 Expansion

The practice caught on quickly, and Mity Mites were soon issued to ARVN units (USMACV 1965) and became common tools for Tunnel Rats (Rottman 2012).


B/W image in a dirt field. Helmeted soldier on one knee with tank strapped on back. Lifting a board with left hand and holding an exhaust tube from the tank under the board with right hand.

FIGURE 2.6: A soldier uses a backpack Mity Mite to fog a tunnel (US Army 1966)


The Army used foggers to pump “air” or “smoke” into tunnels in combination with “riot control agents” during Operation Cedar falls in 1967 (Lehrer 1968). And by 1968’s Battle of Khe Sanh, it was standard practice to use foggers for tunnel excavation as well as mosquito and fly control (Rottman 2006).


B/W image. In a clearing in a densely vegetated area, a small tank with an exhaust pipe blowing fog to the right. The cloud of fog covers much of the right side. Towards the back, 2 people wearing helmets and fatigues with sleeves rolled up stand with hands on hips on either side of the fogger, watching it.

FIGURE 2.7: Engineers unpack and test a Mitey-Mite blower (School 2003).


In 1969, the US Army Limited War Laboratory published a report on chemical weapons that included a section on foggers and agents for use in them, naming the General Ordinance Equipment Corporation and Federal Laboratories models that were already in production and a propsed development of a formalized truck-based fogger (Samuels et al. 1969):


Screen cap of a photo copy of an old report, it's black and white and in bad shape, but legible for the most part. It's Table A.2.1.2, Chemical Sprays and Foggers. There are columns: Device/Model, Manufacturer, Description, Estimated Cost (for development or for purchase), and Status (available already or needing development). There are 6 rows, one for each Device/Model: MK17 Pepper Fog CS-Tear Smoke Generator, MK XII, Turb A Fog Tear Gas Dispenser, Federal Dust Projector 271, Dynafog 70, and a propsed vehicle based fogger based on the mosquito fogging approach.

FIGURE 2.8: Existing and proposed fogging devices (Samuels et al. 1969).