Over the past decade, society's become obsessed with zombies. It's at the center of its own culture with books, TV shows, films and legit survival guides. But could it ever really happen? Some believe Zombieland, The Walking Dead and World War Z are indicative of things to come. It may sound insane, but the U.S. government isn't taking any chances. They've put protocols in place to combat any threat, no matter how improbable.



The U.S. military has a document called CONOP 8888. It's a zombie survival plan that details how to neutralize the undead.

"This plan fulfills fictional contingency planning guidance tasking for U.S. Strategic Command to develop a comprehensive [plan] to undertake military operations to preserve 'non-zombie' humans from the threats posed by a zombie horde," CONOP 8888's summary reads. "Because zombies pose a threat to all non-zombie human life, [Strategic Command] will be prepared to preserve the sanctity of human life and conduct operations in support of any human population -- including traditional adversaries."

How and why would the government create something this in-depth for fictional creatures? Is there something we should be worried about? The answer is yes -- and no. CONOP 8888 was originally developed as a joke. The military wanted "a creative way to devise a planning document to protect citizens in the event of an attack of any kind. The officers used zombies as their muse."

It's only used for training purposes, not real zombie prep. But we respect and admire the dilligence in their training. Despite its false origins, they did their homework. The plan's summary includes various ways to defend yourself against "vegetarian zombies, evil magic zombies (EMZs are zombie life forms created via some form of occult experimentation in what might otherwise be referred to as 'evil magic'); and also chicken zombies."



We didn't even know chicken zombies were a possibility! The chances of a zombie outbreak may be slim to none, but we're happy the government's taken the necessary steps to keep us safe.



(via Foreign Policy)







