‘Zombie Attack’ Preparedness Now Offered In Military Counter-Terrorism Program
Special Note: I would like to point out that the zombie mythos serves a purpose, not just as entertainment, but as psychological conditioning. Mixing the use of fictional “zombies” (mindless violent humans) with real world pandemic and terrorist training may develop barriers between soldiers and their conscience. No longer is there such a thing as “innocent bystanders”. Now, anyone who interferes in any way, and any hungry refugee who comes begging for help, may be treated like a braindead creature rather than a person that needs assistance and protection. We can see this in general training that the military has been undergoing for years which deals with civil unrest. Actors play the part of hungry slobbering looters and homeless ghouls during training exercises designed to numb soldiers before the real thing occurs. I would also like to point out that the elites have been using zombie fiction in their propaganda for decades. Just watch HG Wells’ film ‘Things To Come’ from 1936 (HG Wells also wrote a book entitled ‘The New World Order’), which predicts a massive world war, followed by a pandemic which causes the “dead” to wander the land infecting others. Sound familiar…
Brandon Smith, Associate Editor
This article was written by J.D. Heyes and originally published at Natural News
Blasting hordes of attacking zombies to bits is the stuff of fantasy movies and video games, right?
Apparently not, according to recent reports which say that a California-based security firm called the HALO Corp. will incorporate training on how to fight the undead during a counter-terrorism summit Oct. 29-Nov.2 that is expected to draw 1,000 participants from the military and law enforcement agencies, as well as medical personnel and government workers, NBC News reported.
“The Zombie Apocalypse is very whimsical,” said Brad Barker, president of HALO, who said the addition of zombies to the curriculum is intended to add a little levity to otherwise extremely important, and more dire, scenarios, MilitaryTimes.com reported.
The company was founded by former special operations, national security and intelligence personnel. The five-day annual summit will be held at the firm’s 44-acre Paradise Point resort island off San Diego’s Mission Bay.
No ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ but pandemics are real
The summit this year will also include more realistic tactical training in an environment using “Hollywood magic” in live-action demonstrations and realistic tactical training scenarios – all accompanied by classroom education as well.
The immersive, creative Hollywood-type sets will include a pirate’s haven and a Middle Eastern village, according to reports. More than 30 courses cover everything from maritime and border security to modern warfare and cyber terrorism, according to promotional material put out by HALO.
A number of high-profile officials, including retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, a former CIA and National Security Agency director, as well as Mexico’s interior secretary, Alejandro Poire Romero.
Barker’s “Zombie Apocalypse” scenario comes from a phrase which became popular last year following a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention campaign “aimed at underscoring the importance of being prepared for major emergencies, natural disasters and pandemics,” MilitaryTimes.com said.
In the CDC program, fictional zombies (are there any other kind?) are utilized to make the point that Americans should be ready for any emergency, even the kinds of emergencies that, hypothetically, could result from a brain-eating virus pandemic.
Fun subject addressing serious subject – Preparedness
Zombies are also featured in a 40-page, CDC-produced comic book which takes a lighthearted look at a serious scenario: A mutated virus which spreads quickly, forcing the government to send out the military to maintain order while infectious disease specialists search for a vaccine.
Not to be outdone, Navy Times got into the act as well; the service branch has published an equally comedic “zombie war deployment guide” in its Aug. 1, 2011 issue, in which the paper examined various gear and tactics that “experts” said were essential to successfully target the undead.
Despite the addition of zombie scenario contrasts with more serious ones featured during the summit, Barker noted. There will be incidents featuring active shooters inside a hospital, as well as downed pilots who are trapped behind enemy lines – but the pandemic medical nightmare scenario is almost guaranteed to be a crowd-pleaser among attendees, he believes.
“They are going to see a lot of stuff go down. It is a Hollywood production,” Barker said.
Real-world situations are, of course, the highlight
During the scenario, zombies will roam the island harassing troops, first-aid teams and other medical responders who are participating, said the HALO chief, though he declined to give out details. He would only say that the idea is aimed at challenging local officials and authorities as they respond to extreme, real-world conditions in which people are likely to become violent, crazed and out of control, creating widespread fear and chaos.
Obviously, zombies are not real, HALO notes, but the emergency situations introduced and taught at the summit certainly are. The event will feature lessons learned from real terrorist attacks and real disasters, such as attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan and the deadly bombings and attacks in 2008 in Mumbai, India. Cyber terrorism will have a leading role during the event, Barker said.
Sources:
http://usnews.nbcnews.com
http://www.militarytimes.com
http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com
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September 26th, 2012 at 4:37 pm
Zombies are, without a doubt, the single most popular sub-genre of both science fiction and horror literature today. I’ll stake my retirement on it. Ask anybody from high school through age 30 and they’ll likely agree that zombie fiction currently kicks the crap out of aliens, ghosts, vampires, nuclear war, the evil supercomputer mastermind, time travel assassins, and any other possible sub-genre. Ask anybody from, say, my father’s generation on the other hand, and they’ll tell you that zombies are just an excuse to display gratuitous amounts of gore and nudity – and they would be right, partially.
“Fun subject addressing a serious subject – Preparedness.”
This couldn’t have been better worded, because it brushes on why (I believe) the undead scenario horrifies and fascinates so many young people, in a way that it doesn’t for older generations. The idea of a point of no return, a total endgame scenario, is perceived as more of a real possibility for our generation than it was in our parents’ youth.
Zombies are a godsend for our generation. They are a fun way of holding young people’s attention while (whether they realize it or not) they are learning about things like storing food and water, wilderness survival, firearms discipline and egress routes from the city.
As for the military using zombies as a training scenario – I say bring it. It sounds like a damn fun way to teach CasEvac and site security, if nothing else. Nothing short of an actual atrocity will convince me that my Soldiers can be conditioned to view American citizens (or even foreign nationals in a war zone) as a mindless horde that needs to be wiped out. Give the Troops a little due credit, they’re smarter than that.
-Pat C.
September 26th, 2012 at 5:18 pm
@Patrick
No one said the current serving would buy into the program. However, you need to think beyond the “novelty” of the zombie franchise and look at the psychological bread and circuses involved as well. The DOD’s intentions are not entirely clear, but if one examines the “national emergency training” (martial law training) that the military has been undergoing for the past few years, it seems to me that the zombie fantasy ties right in. The DOD WANTS the military to be desensitized to violent action against citizens, and if you have ever seen pictures of hungry refugees, they sure do look like zombies; half alive and half dead. Certainly, we all hope that those in the armed forces do not adopt such a mindset, that’s why Oath Keepers exists. However, we must keep in mind the reason for our mission; there are indeed many people out there who do NOT know better, and need to be educated on how they are being conditioned.
September 29th, 2012 at 8:10 am
I’m sorry. I don’t see it. I see the govt using the zombie popularity to get people to think about preparedness, because otherwise they will not. Using Zombies to train us to kill our fellow citizenry? I think not. If anything, they are using something that is popular to keep our troops interested in training.
If there is some manmade or natural disaster, there will be some who will be a threat to those responding as well as their fellow citizens. Like it or not, its a tactical reality. If you want your troopers or the police to react properly, they have to be trained.
I saw both sides of the coin in 04 in Iraq. Our Brigade trained on ROE, crowd control etc. We knew what was expected of us. We had a method/plan for how to handle interactions with locals during operations. Once we got into theater, most responded properly and abided by our commander’s directive to be firm and professional and to treat the locals with dignity and respect. If they became a threat, we would respond within the (ever changing) ROE and follow our procedures. Every incident was investigated and anyone breaking the SOP, were dealt with.
This was not the case with all units. Some units arrived untrained and therefore they were scared crapless when they had to interact with the locals. This resulted in random violence and random shooting on crowded streets and too much collateral damage. I once saw a unit, that was new in theater, facilitate a u-turn by firing automatic “warning shots” toward oncoming traffic. That unit was reported, and they were confined to the FOB until they got retrained. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case with everyone.
I know I’ll tick someone off with this question, but aren’t we preppsers using a similar mindest? Look at all of the scenarios in the books by Rawles and other genre authors? Aside from those characters presented as part of the group or other groups, aren’t strangers categorized as a potential threat? People passing compounds on roads are stopped at gunpoint and searched to determine if they are a threat or criminals. Refugees are sent scurrying away with warning shots, clearly presenting the potential for escalation of force. I’m not saying that is wrong. It is tactically sound. I’m saying that if we have the right to defend ourselves, so will those who respond to emergencies.
I pray that if/when there is an emergency, that someone, like my BDE Commander is in charge, who trains his soldiers on the ROE/EOF and enforces it. I also pray that we can influence enough of our politicians to enforce the Constitution, so that we will not have to view our brothers and sisters in uniform as a threat.
October 1st, 2012 at 10:23 am
Revealed: Army scientists secretly sprayed St Louis with ‘radioactive’ particles for YEARS to test chemical warfare technology By EMILY ANNE EPSTEIN PUBLISHED: 29 September 2012
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2210415/Revealed-Army-scientists-secretly-sprayed-St-Louis-radioactive-particles-YEARS-test-chemical-warfare-technology.html#ixzz27ya0rUiv