I'm Jon Davis, an honourably discharged Marine with two Iraq tours. I trained hundreds of people on the Marine Corps infantry weapons systems, and years of training allowed me to pick up a few things.
People often ask me about 'what if?' situations and how the state would respond. Creating hypothetical battles is an important practice. There are teams of analysts who specialise in producing and revising plans to combat every scenario on Earth for a hypothetical conflict. Solving hypothetical situations and simulation wars, like, for example, a zombie apocalypse, presents new strategic and tactical challenges to prepare for any situation.
Zombies are great from a hypothetical planning perspective. Think about it. You have a scary and unpredictable light infantry insurgency force with unlimited ability to recruit if given access to a city. Allies must meet these forces with adequate measures within hours of the start of the conflict, or else things will get real for defending forces pretty quickly. At the same time, they're facing an enemy which are smashing up the local bars and shops while also scrapping with the public. Eat your heart out, Shaun of the Dead.
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So, what's the possibility that we would actually survive an attack from the Zombies given the resources that we have today? There are several factors we would need to consider, including asking how the condition has spread? Do you have to be bitten or is it a virus we can carry for years? Is it possible they may evolve into a higher order of monster? To consider all of these, I'd have to write a book. For the purpose of this article, however, I'm going to consider two main variables: the speed of the zombies and your whereabouts.
The speed of the zombies is the first factor to consider. If they are slow, it's hard to believe that a creature moving at reduced speeds would have a great deal of success walking around aimlessly against people smart enough to run away from it or kill it. With our current defence resources, we can assume that we could contain the outbreak in the first town before it reaches critical mass.
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However, if we're dealing with fast-moving zombies, that's different. RUN FOR THE HILLS. Then we need to assume we are struggling big time and that if we can't eliminate the fast-moving zombies, it will only be about survival. From this point, we are going to have to look to where we could geographically find the safest place to build up a defence.
Your environment will contribute greatly to the success or failure of a survivor's odds of staying alive. Get into Resident Evil mode. Obviously, a city is a death trap and so don't even hope to escape in time. They are highly cramped, offering little long-term places to hide, along with the fact that there will very quickly be a lack of food, water or resources of any kind left to scavenge. Cities are the last place you want to be.
But assume that we get the resources problem under control and move a bit further out. Insurgency warfare taught us a lot about hiding in mountains. You may not be able to mount an offensive, but you can securely hold up there for a while. As long as you have a food source, a few survivors could hold a mountain pass indefinitely.
Generally, look to nature. You want the terrain to do your hardest work for you, so looking to places with the most natural barriers is always the best way to go. We can talk about man-made defences but, eventually, the bullets will run out, people will be surprised by a stray bite, training accidents happen or fatigue or stress drives some to insanity. Point guards fall asleep on a tower or someone leaves a gate unlocked. If humanity was your only option, humanity is in trouble. Basically, the sooner you learn that humans are unreliable creatures in the long term and that someone will mess up eventually, the sooner you'll start relying on defences that can't change, like a narrow pass flanked by high cliffs or a deep river.
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So, we need to assess. Hand-to-hand combat is unlikely because you'll still find yourself getting a bite or a scratch. Have you got guns? If not, you'll need to make friends with someone who has a lot of ammo. Preferably, stick with someone who can teach you how to make bullets, too. They'll be a survivor and then you can make him the mayor of Survivoropolis.
The only assumptions we can make about causing zombie casualties is that firepower to a zombie's brain or burning the corpse will be effective. So, you need to assume you have unlimited ammunition or a way to build a deep burning trench surrounding your colony of survivors. But if you don't, you'll be screwed.
Find more of Jon's hypothetical warfare on War Elephant or Quora.
Interview: Sam Howard
Featured Image Credit: Creative Commons