Will you know it when you see it? ~

Jonathan Glazer, 22 January 2015

Most discussion of preparations for the Zombie Apocalypse and activities undertaken during it ignore an important element: The start. At what point do you go from your comfortable position in society as a part of an economy and a civilization to a defensive operator acting in ways to secure your and your family’s safety? It is easy enough to answer that question with “when I perceive a threat”. But what is the trigger that makes you openly carry a firearm, create a defensive perimeter (or perhaps move to a better position) and ready yourself to take a life (or stop the advance of the undead)? There won’t be a message from the emergency broadcasting system alerting you to the need to act like you are Mad Max. The news may initially report craziness afoot, but at a certain point, the authorities will put the lid on really bad news and even the media will not be reporting what is truly happening. If you ever have the chance to talk to Gulf Coast residents about what happened immediately following hurricane Katrina, they will tell you that they were in the dark, figuratively and literally for a long time.

||: Hack, slash, poke, repeat :||  ~

Jonathan Glazer, 20 November 2015

Swoosh! And the Katana liberates the Zombie’s heads, in quick succession from the tyranny of being attached to their rotting bodies. Andrea was saved from the horror of being eaten alive after losing her balance and falling to the forest ground. This was how the character of Michonne was introduced to the story of The Walking Dead. The Samurai sword carries high regard as a Zombie killing melee weapon. Is this adulation warranted? Arguments can be made for both sides of that controversy. As an active practitioner of the Japanese Sword Arts (JSA), I have my own opinions that I feel are rooted in reality. Most will agree that edged weapons are an essential tool for every toolbox following the ZA. They are silent, do not need reloading and are relatively free from excessive regulation. That last point is quite subjective as many bladed weapons are restricted in some areas. The UK has severely curtailed possession of what they deem to be “offensive” blades, which include swords and the US has a federal ban on switchblades, although automatic knives are in common use despite this ban. We will touch on these points momentarily.

Starting a little late in the game

Jonathan Glazer, 25 September 2015

We have all seen movies where a threat to a town, the country or humanity in general causes the hero to open a weapons cache that would make any gun collector drool.  Belt fed machine guns, rocket launchers and Curios & Relics of all kinds come out of the subterranean vault ready for another shot at regaining their former glory.   There are those who do have a doomsday cache of weapons and gear which is not meant to see the light of day.  Then there are those who always thought it was a good idea and then suddenly find themselves in an environment which is not friendly to the accumulation of firepower.  What then?

It’s what you do before the crisis that matters…

Jonathan Glazer, 11 September 2015

If we were part of the storied 1%, preparing for the outbreak would be relatively easy.  Money, storage space, transportation, manpower and even the legal climate would not pose issues for the rich and powerful to plan their survival.  Most have security personnel who are in charge of this planning, so all they do is write a check.  For the rest of us, planning is critical.  Every choice we make is a tradeoff and each of our decisions carries opportunity cost.  Every dollar spent on survival planning is one less dollar available to pay the cell phone bill or buy shoes for the children.  We must prioritize every single element and decide what to buy or prepare and how much to spend.

Maybe a little bigger than this?

A huge underground bunker would be fantastic.  We could stockpile food, water, medicine, ammo, generators, fuel as well as all the creature comforts which would keep us happy until natural causes claimed us or the last zombie on earth keeled over and ceased being a threat.  Most of us do not have such a bunker.  We have to plan either to stay in our homes and defend it or be mobile and carry our essentials with us.  Even if we plan to stay in our homes, the possibility of needing to leave must be in our contingency plan.  This decision might be made for us due to powers beyond our control, such as civil authorities or natural disasters.  In that situation, you may have to grab what you can carry and run.

How do you kill what’s already dead?

Jonathan Glazer, 28 August 2015

The last column touched briefly on how to end the career of a Zed.  Now I will get more granular and detailed.  It is too simple to say something like “shoot them in the head”.  If it were just that simple, this column would not be necessary.  In reality, we tend to get overwhelmed by biters very easily.  During an outbreak, their numbers swell quickly and one’s position can be overrun in a matter of moments.  The problem is that they do not have a sense of fear.  Suppressive fire from heavy weapons makes normal people want to get out of the way and hide, which allows a flanking force to maneuver closer, set up fire lanes and lay down their own volume of suppressive fire.  This allows the first team to move into place and the process continues until both fire teams achieve their objective.  This is known as “Fire and Maneuver”.   Walkers do not respond to suppressive fire.  They simply wander into the withering wall of bullets and fall over (hopefully) allowing the ones behind them to do the same.  The problem is that the machine gunners eventually have to reload, or change overheated barrels or have a snickers.  And the undead hordes keep on moving closer.