The United States military probably has a plan for just about any realistic contingency that might crop up in the foreseeable future, plus a few plans for unrealistic contingencies tossed in for good measure. The latter category includes one drawn up by Pentagon planners for how the country’s armed forces should handle a zombie outbreak. Following are thirty things about that and other unusual military plans from history.
30. The Pentagon’s Plan to Stop the Zombie Apocalypse
The Pentagon is always in preparation mode for scenarios that might require its services. Anything from humanitarian missions, to all varieties of the military’s core function of delivering warheads to foreheads. As a result, planners constantly think up potential scenarios that might require a military response, and come up with a plan or plans to deal with them. From the Red Army storming through the Fulda Gap, to a new mass terrorist attack, to rescuing a US ambassador in some far-off land, there is probably a document on what should be done stashed away somewhere. The goal is that if or when the brown stuff hits the fan, the powers that be should have a blueprint ready to yank off the shelf, dust off, and carry out.
Or at least to use as a starting point for further plans, more narrowly tailored to a real-world scenario that resembles – but does not exactly match – one for which a contingency plan exists. The plans are sometimes farfetched – sometimes because somebody in uniform got carried away and lost touch with reality. Other times, the goal is simply to train planners on the nuts and bolts of contingency planning. Of the farfetched plans, few are more fascinating than CONPLAN 8888. Also known as Counter-Zombie Dominance, it is a US Department of Defense Strategic Command plan to defend against a threatened zombie apocalypse.