Zombie Apocalypse Epidemic
Imagine a world just like the movies, where diseased cannibalistic humans walk the earth and the only thing to do is survive. A zombie apocalypse has been a compelling plot for the horror genre for many years. Humans have always shown fear to diseases and viruses that spread easily, so that is exactly why the thought of a diseases allowing the dead to rise is terrifying. The zombie apocalypse is a strong metaphor that represents society’s fear of pandemics, anxiety inducing life events, and the change to the normal day to day life. Following popular media, some might think that filmmakers and writers are trying to prepare the audience for what could come in the future. Preparations for such an event are important to have, if an apocalypse were to happen the government has a plan for those to endure and survive.
Media has brainwashed the public to have a fearful idea of what a real zombie apocalypse could hold, but what does that world actually look like? Before there are solutions made for the epidemic, there must be a picture drawn of what to prepare for. Researchers Alex Alemi, Matthew Bierbaum, Christopher Myers, and James Sethna of Cornell University made a model of how fast one real zombie would spread. “I placed a lone hungry zombie in New York City, and, within a week, the invasion had spread throughout the East Coast, overrunning Boston and Washington, DC” (Plumer, 2015). Looking at the results from the model prospectively, it is terrifying how fast our world can change. Many shows like The Walking Dead, The Last of Us, and All of Us Are Dead display a cruel and tragic world. So what plans are to prevent or survive such an event?
In April of 2011, The United States of America established a plan for a zombie apocalypse called CONOP 8888. Society was surprised when this plan was made public for anyone to read. It was a shock to many that The United States would be prepared for such a fictional sounding event. There is even a disclaimer on the first page stating, “This plan was not actually designed as a joke. During the summers of 2009 and 2010, while training augmentees from a local training squadron about the JOPP members of a USSTRA TCOM component found out (by accident) that the hyperbole involved in writing a "zombie survival plan" actually provided a very useful and effective training tool” (Lubold, 2015). The document states a detailed explanation for the legal, political, and practical issues involved if the US were to have the living rise. Looking at the document, the government has many different plans based of how the zombies were made or had risen. CONOP 8888 holds a plan with many steps on how to handle a real-life zombie apocalypse. This is a six-step plan with phases such as; shape, deter, seize initiative, dominate, stabilize, and restore civil authority. While this might not be the first phase of the plan, the writers theorize that Marial Law will be put into order. This would America’s military access to more freedom in taking out the living dead. Phase Zero, shape, states that the government will conduct general zombie awareness training. This will be a training for the public to learn how to kill and fight zombies. The next step, phase one deter, “zombies cannot be deterred themselves.” This step is giving the public hope that the government’s ability to defeat the living dead. Phase two, seize initiative, says “recall all USSTRATCOM personnel to duty stations.” The government in this stage will clean and take care of the affected areas. Phase three, dominate, states “lockdown all USSTRATCOM operating stations for thirty days.” The step allows the affected areas to be dealt with incase the zombie virus were to spread from these locations. The next step, phase four, is called stabilize which states “deploy recon teams after D+30 to ascertain general safety of environment USSTRATCOM locations for human habitation.” This step is producing a team to ensure that the affected location is safe for humans to live there once the apocalypse is solved. Now the final step, phase five restore civil authority, states “deploy USSTRATCOM personnel to aid any surviving civil authorities in disaster zones.” This final step is to help the surviving parties to return to living their lives as they have always known. This is a well thought out and devised plan to overcome the real zombie apocalypse, but would this plan actually work?
Starting off, how likely is CONOP 8888, solution for a zombie apocalypse, to succeed? “As the Pentagon notes, “Our intent was to place this tool ‘into the wild’ so that others who were interested in finding new and innovative ways to train planners could have an alternative and admittedly unconventional tool at their disposal that could be modified and updated over time” (Morgan, 2017). The Pentagon has worked hard to devise this plan, but what are the likely that members of modern-day society would follow these exact orders? Recently, the world was faced with the Covid-19 pandemic that turned society upside down. In these events the CDC issued mandates for masks and social distancing. Many refused to follow these requirements. The CDC only put out these mandates to help keep members of society safe and to try and contain the virus. No matter where in the United States, individuals struggled to maintain six feet apart and to wear masks. These orders were simple, but it was still a struggle for many people to keep up. If a real-life zombie apocalypse were to take place, there is fear many individuals would not follow the steps of CONOP 8888. The citizens of The United States of America would turn to a panic and most likely turn violent to one another. When this happens, the country becomes a dangerous place and many people tend to go rogue. While watching movies or television shows on zombie apocalypse notice how they never revolve around the government side of things. CONOP 8888 would be put in to place to ensure the safety and restorations of America, but there is fear that many would not be cline to follow the government’s orders in such a life changing event.
In conclusion, a zombie apocalypse is a fictional event that many theorize will never happen, but the government is a step ahead in case of such events. Preparations for such an event are important to have, if an apocalypse were to happen the government has a plan for those to endure and survive. The Pentagon has come up with the phases of CONOP 8888 so that The United States of America can survive and return to its former self in such events. Following history, it will be a treacherous journey to have society follow this important plan. If a zombie apocalypse were to happen it is most important to follow thought out plans in order to survive.
References
Lubold, Gordon. “Exclusive: The Pentagon Has a Plan to Stop the Zombie Apocalypse. Seriously.” Foreign Policy, 13 May 2014, foreignpolicy.com/2014/05/13/exclusive-the-pentagon-has-a-plan-to-stop-the-zombie-apocalypse-seriously/.
Milner, Richard. “CONPLAN 8888: The Pentagon’s Zombie Apocalypse Plan Explained.” Grunge, 16 Jan. 2024, https://www.grunge.com/1493195/conplan-8888-the-pentagon-zombie-apocalypse-plan-explained/.
Metraux, Julia. “The Living Dead Embody Our Worst Fears.” JSTOR Daily, 9 May 2022, https://daily.jstor.org/the-living-dead-embody-our-worst-fears/.
Morgan, Thad. “Are You Prepared for a Zombie Apocalypse? The U.S. Government Is.” HISTORY, 31 Oct. 2017, www.history.com/news/are-you-prepared-for-a-zombie-apocalypse-the-u-s-government-is.
Nasiruddin, Melissa, et al. Zombies—A Pop Culture Resource for Public Health Awareness - Volume 19, Number 5—May 2013 - Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal - CDC. wwwnc.cdc.gov, https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1905.ad1905. Accessed 7 Aug. 2024.
Plumer, Brad. “How Would a Zombie Invasion Play out in the US? These Scientists Modeled It.” Vox, 3 Mar. 2015, https://www.vox.com/2015/3/3/8140945/zombie-apocalypse-science.
Redd, Wyatt. “The U.S. Military Has An Actual Zombie Defense Plan — Here’s What It Says.” All That’s Interesting, 18 July 2018, https://allthatsinteresting.com/conop-8888.
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