"From the early days of military aviation few were qualified or needed to maintain aircrafts; their designs and functionality were simpler and tool accountability was not what it is today, which led to many mechanical failures that were blamed on 'little gremlins' to explain them away.  As flying weapon systems grew exponentially, more varied and complex, the necessity to create specialists within the USAF became obvious.  Training was prioritized then one specialty was chosen to perform maintenance from within, overcome the most hazardous of environments and do so in the dark; we are Tank Rats."