We can talk about scenarios, weapons, vehicles, and plan like there is no tomorrow.  But to be honest, there are times during the day when we get sidetracked.  We lose sight.  Planning takes a back seat to our regular routine.  Thankfully there is an answer. We were very fortunate to get our hands on the Zombie Survival Guide 2011 Day-to-Day Calendar from the kind, and survival-minded, folks over at Andrews McMeel .  What better way to keep zombie awareness fresh in your mind than a daily reminder?

According to the publisher:

There’s no time to lose. It could happen at any moment. It may have already begun. Everyone must prepare for the zombie apocalypse. “Other monsters may threaten individual humans, but the living dead threaten the entire human race. Zombies are slate wipers,” warns author Max Brooks. Based on the best-selling book of the same name, the daily Zombie Survival Guide 2011 Day-to-Day Calendar  provides on every page valuable information needed to survive a zombie outbreak: the most effective weapons, combat techniques, how to adapt in any situation, and so much more. Be vigilant. Zombies are coming, and they’re hungry.

One other helpful feature, that many desk calendars do not include, is a mini-journal. The journal gives you an area to document date, time, location, distance away, and other specific information from the outbreak.  But in case the outbreak has not yet taken place, this is a perfect location for maintaining notes, numbers, addresses, formulas, and other important information you could use when the outbreak is upon us.

The great thing about this is that in a pinch, you can grab your notes, throw them in your MZPK , and hit the road!

Do not hesitate friends, get yours today! Be sure to check out some of their other zombie related merchandise.  We have some 2 more reviews that will be on the way shortly!

Stay safe.  Stay informed.  Stay alive!

Let’s face it.  Nobody knows where or when the attack will come.  All we know is that one day we will all have to face off against the undead.  The best way to prepare is to consider as many scenarios as possible.  This month’s scenario is a bit more complicated: Garage Door.

Just are just getting home from a long shift at work.  Tired, and ready to relax, you pull your car into the garage and hit the button to close the garage door.  In the rear view mirror, you can see that the door appears to not be going all the way down, but not going back up either.  Growling and groaning noises become louder and louder.  As you hop out of the car you see an arm, still moving, of one of the undead that has been caught in the track of the garage door, causing it to remain in an half closed position.  A few more hands and arms, and even a head of the undead begins to appear through the opening.

What do you do next?

“Zombie Scenario” is meant as a learning and discussion exercise used as a tool for getting your mind thinking about the outbreak.  It should prove helpful to think about a specific scenario and have others review your potential plan.  If you have a scenario you would like to see discussed, contact us.

Stay safe.  Stay informed. Stay alive.

For those that might not be aware (those like me) Discovery is airing season two of a very interesting and pertinent series titled “The Colony”.  According to Discovery, the premise behind this series is as follows:

“THE COLONY is an experiment that simulates a post-apocalyptic world in which volunteers are tasked with surviving and rebuilding everything from scratch, using only raw ingenuity and supplies they scavenge from their environment. Here’s your destination to learn more about these bold experiments into a dark future that holds the promise of hopeful regeneration.”

Their season premier caught my eye immediately.

But the show is not about zombies, right?

Correct.  It is not about zombies.  However, when the undead walk and pillage the earth, would that not be a global catastrophe?  Surely many, if not most, of the issues the colonists in this television series face could apply to a post-outbreak world.  The basic concepts of survival and pushing beyond such a horrific event would still apply.  How do you know that your way of finding out about the attack would not come from some type of instant quarantine where you have very little control over how you react?

Despite what many believe, when zombies attack, it will not be as simple as grabbing your fully automatic shotgun with unlimited ammunition and hopping into the tank that is parked in your backyard. You will most likely not find yourself in a totally secure area with loads of basic supplies.  Chances are you are not an excellent marksman with years of training as a survivalist.

Chances are, you are a regular Joe.  If that is the case, how would you survive.  And not just that, how you would move forward?

So while this series is fictional and not surrounding a zombie-centered plot, The Colony is great research for gathering and collecting survival tips for when we are finally face to face with the zeds.

If anything else, this site is about being aware and ready for the undead.  Much like the military, law enforcement, etc., you learn to train like you fight, and fight like you train.  Meaning, if you can practice shooting at zeds, why not practice with some realistic targets?

The kind folks at at Fork Targets have made preparing for the undead apocalypse that much easier with an entire set of zombie related shooting targets.  Why shoot anything but a zombie when trying to prepare?  You need to be ready.  You need to train your body and your mind to recognize these threats and be ready to take them out!

You can check out their available packages here: http://forktargets.com/Fork_Targets/ZombieShootingTargets.html

Looks like some folks in California are prepared.  Via TopCultured.

Whether you are trying to get to your stronghold or trying to get away from it you going to need to pick a means of transport. Here we take a brief look at various means of mobility, from your mom’s sedan to your own two feet and grit.

Even if you think you have prepared for every possible event there will still be those that you don’t think of. Those events are the ones that will cause you to reevaluate your situation and eventually you may have to abandon, either under your own accord or under fire, to a possibility more secure area, simply to flee your own death. The cause of your flight might mean that you have no other option other than to use your feet, on the other hand you might be able to pick the means by which you leave, and if that is so you will have to weigh the advantages and disadvantages.

Cars, Trucks, and other Gas Guzzlers: While any kind of large vehicle will mean that you will be able to carry far more than you would otherwise be able to on you back they are not perhaps the best choice if you are planning to hold out in an area of an extremely extended time period. First off even with stabilizers fuel will only last so long and there are other issues, such as the batteries to be concerned able when dealing with a vehicle that will sit for months or years at a stretch without significant use. Also, another concern that some may have is that modern vehicles could possibly be disabled if a nuclear device were to be exploded, be that at low level or at high altitude, which in turns means that the options for motorized transport are severally limited. Barring nuclear war, the fact that modern vehicles are often not the easiest to maintain and once all fuel has been used they become little more than an obstacle in traveling down a deserted road. Also, another concern would be agility and the ability to maneuver in close contact with hostile, dead or alive, as well as the fact that a running vehicle in a world devoid of such things would bring more than a little interest from the locals, even if they were not hostile.

Bicycles: While they are not as fast or do they as easily haul as much as a car or truck they are easier to maintain and the necessary parts to do repairs are not as numerous compared to having to lug an entire transmission just in case the current one goes to hell. They are also much quieter than almost any motorized vehicle and that gives you a better chance of seeing a possible ambush before you are in it. However, a bicycle offers no armor except what you might be wearing on your person. A skilled marksman might very possibly be able to take you out before you are able to react or put up a fight, also a single strand of wire across a path or road could mean you death if you choose to take the path of least resistance. However, for ease of use and the ability to care more than what you could just on your back with less work they are hard to beat.

Trains: While the idea of having a large heavy vehicle that could simply run over an obstacle that is in it’s way may seem like the perfect idea the train is simply not that. The modern pseudo-tactical gamer who thinks they know everything, and think a dessert eagle is not only tactical but can be fired quickly and accurately, has long held that bigger is better. I name this the tank mentality. The bigger, the heavier, the more bang, the better whatever it is. Supersize it and paste a cannon on top and nothing can stop you, forget what common sense says and run everyone over. A train might seem ideal for transport but their possible courses are easily found and either blocked or destroyed all together. Trains also bring the issue of a learning curve that a train is not something that you can simply jump in and drive. But together the requirement for training, the fixed courses, and the great consumption of fuel, a train is perhaps the worst possible choice, next to a skateboard, or a unicycle.

On Foot: Unless you are missing a leg or confined to a wheelchair you standard means of motion are your own legs. From time immemorial man has moved across countries and continent on his own two feet. While you do not have the ability to carry luxury items that you might with a truck or even a car, or the mechanical advantage of a bicycle, walking has the advantage of not having to worry about mechanical failure. While you are still open to the element being on foot means that you will be able to more readily disappear into the brush, maneuver past obstacle, and in general hide from hostiles or sneak around those who might do you harm, be they living or undead variety. With some keen wits, and a little training this very well might be your best bet when your survival is at stake.

One of the oldest weapons of man is the ax, in various shapes and forms. While some of the oldest were little more than stone wedges today’s axes are high tech and designed to do their jobs with minimum work.  So, is the ax, the hand ax, and the American cousin the tomahawk the answer to the melee debate?

Advantages:

1. Availability: As a utility tool and a combat weapon the ax is simplistic and brute effeteness in one package, it is also widely available. While you may not find the latest and great in battle “hawks” at you local hardware store you will likely find a fine variety of utility axes.

2. The all around tool: While you can kill with an ax it’s most tantalizing aspect is the multi-use aspect of it. One can use an ax to chop wood, breach a door, or hack their way out of a house through the roof when they fled to the attic after the defenses have been over run. The uses for an ax are many and varied and this is perhaps one of the reasons that many will choose it over a sword or other weapons that require years of training to achieve proficiency.

Disadvantages:

1. Exhaustion: In combat the weight of the ax and the energy required to swing and swing it is perhaps one of the greatest downsides of the ax. Exhaustion against an enemy that does not tire can be fatal and even at peak fitness a person can easily run out of energy and once fatigued make a fatal error, by either over committing a strike of injuring oneself.

2. Carrying options: While for utility axes means of carrying is not a big issue for tomahawks and other axes designed for combating adversaries other than logs bringing then into action quickly is often a problem. Their sheaths are designed for keeping the blade away from fleshy parts of the wearer, not for quick draw and combat, this may be a fatal flaw in a life or death situation.

While the ax has many uses, it pure utility aspect will make it part of many kits. However, as a combat tool, perhaps there still lies pieces of it that require refinement before it becomes a mainstay of firstline combat kits.

The key to defeating, any enemy living or undead, is to make them fight the battles on your terms. When the dead rise, and the world as you know it has collapsed you will need to understand that you will have to make the undead fight you on your terms and not simply run at the horde baseball bat swinging and guns blazing every time you see them, or hear their moan.

For centuries armies fought battles primarily in the day. Why? Because, human beings lack good night vision. We as a race cannot see in the dark well enough to identify friend or foe at any great distance. Zombies, however, don’t care if its day or night, they hunt using all of their senses, hearing, sight, and very likely smell. Humans, on the other hand, primarily rely on their sight to maneuver and function. While, there will be those who will say that they can fight the undead in the dark here why these engagements are highly discouraged, except in controlled engagements, and as a last resort.

Night Vision Devices: Since the Second World War nations have worked on and developed, some may even say perfected, devices that attempt to turn night to day. Everyone, who has not been living under a dark rock, has seen combat footage of American soldiers fighting in darkness through the lens of a camera equipped to film in the dark. These green hued films may make many think that getting a set of night vision goggles, will make them the next Sam Fisher and the key to ending the zombie threat. In reality, and not video games, night vision goggles have short battery lives and narrow the line of sight of the user. Also, they make aiming a firearm with any degree of precision difficult.

Fire: While fire as a weapon is not highly recommended, except when the trap for the undead has been properly prepared, it’s use as a means of illumination is invaluable when dealing with a society that no longer has the advantages and luxuries that we are currently use to. However, to use fire as illumination for night fighting, first you must know how to make a fire, something that has fallen by the wayside. A fire, also needs to be fed, which may be difficult in combat, and it will also attract attention from things other than zombies. And, of course, if the fire gets out of control, the results can be disastrous.

Flashlights: Flashlights, an item that almost every home has at least three of sitting around, though not all will likely have batteries, have advantages and disadvantages that intertwine with the two above. First, they require batteries that may become hard to find, and will run. Secondly, they attract attention, and as fire will, they degrade your natural night sight, meaning that other survivors may be easily able to ambush you. However, flashlight are readily available and cheap, generally speaking, something that cannot be said of night vision devices. Also, they are simple to use, and are not likely to cause runaway fires that burn down your base of operations.

In the end, what you have on hand will likely affect what means you use to fight the undead. However, it is ZAC’s recommendation that you avoid combat with the undead at night, unless that is your only option. Make them fight you on your terms, and give them only the minimum number of advantages.

They have been in movies and they are big. An Recreational Vehicle might seem just what the apocalypse ordered to survive those pesky zombies. But are they really?

Advantages:

An RV has a number of advantages not the least of which is the fact that it has a good deal of room for people and equipment. In fact if one was so inclined it very well could be a large bug out kit, all one would need to do is jump in and drive. Also the most luxury RV have well appointed kitchen and bathroom, even showers, allowing a small group to live inside the vehicle with the least amount of excursions. Also the vehicle is a mobile home, if the zombies got too numerous to handle you could simply drive away. What’s not to like?

Disadvantages: An RV is big, meaning that it is not the most maneuverable thing out there, and they are not tanks in any sense of the word. They are not made out of armor and bullets will readily pass straight through unless they impact the engine block which leads to a whole other set of problems. Nor are they likely to hold up to a great deal of hard driving and running over zombies. They are also gas guzzlers and though they are pictured off road in the wilderness as a more comfortable means of “camping” they are not designed to go mudding. To put it bluntly, they are big, cumbersome(though not that slow in all truth, I have know high end RV’s to get up to 90 mile an hour plus), ill armored, and very large targets.

While the advantages do not outweigh the disadvantages there are ways to employ an RV as a means of survival. Firstly would be to outfit it with a large supply of food, water, weapons, and ammo, along with as much survival supplies as you could manage especially things that could be used to gather food more than once, trapping supplies and gardening equipment. Next, give the RV a paint job and mount a cow catcher or push bumper so that you would be able to clear road blocks and zombies out of the way. The paint job is so that the RV will be able to blend in with your local wilderness or the area that you would flee to, as pack enough camo netting to hide the RV in the wilderness. Finally choose a remote area that would be far enough away from major population centers that zombies and other people would rarely cross your path and make sure you have enough gas in the RV or in external tanks to get there without having to rely on other sources, or cache it along the way.

A tank is something that every little boy wants. They are big, heavy, they can soak up punishment, and they have a big bad willy extension on top of it all. It is for these reasons that some desire these vehicles to combat the zombie threat, however, are they the end all answer to zombies or just a willy extension and nothing more.

When people think of tanks there are a number of myths that they have about these vehicles and these beliefs are what mislead many who want these massive vehicles to use in combating the undead. These myths must be resolved before any tank, especially the latest and greatest, can even be considered as possible weapons against zombies.

1. Tanks are invincible: Put bluntly, tanks are not invincible, and that is not only saying that there are weapons that can disable and destroy these behemoths of the battlefield. Tanks require a great deal of maintenance and that’s before the rough and brutal combat conditions that they see. The latest and greatest M1 Abrams is perhaps the most delicate flower that there is in regards to main battle tanks, primarily because the turbine engine that runs the vehicle needs essentially a one to one or better ratio of use to maintenance. Now, also, before someone starts saying that you can just run the zombies over, you do have to maintain these tanks and it does not take much for someone to become infected even washing the tank off do not mean that there will not be some material from the zombies left over for someone to infect themselves with. And since those who will be required to maintain these vehicles they are invaluable and their loss will result in the tanks being useless. Not to mention that the trends on the tanks are the most vulnerable portion of the tank and if they go down without replacement you will not be able to move the tank with any degree of success.
2. They are a good form of transportation: Again put bluntly they are not. Tanks are not the most agile form of transportation and while they are big and bad do not think that you can simply roll over a city when every street is blocked by totaled cars and burned our collapsed buildings. Also, tanks burn full on a horrendous scale, some requiring as much as a dozen gallons or more to just start the engine, others have an effect range measured in dozens not hundreds of miles. The militaries of countries around the world require miles upon miles of logistical backbone to keep these gas guzzlers moving and without fuel they become little more than giant stationary pill boxes with a big canon that once the batteries go dead is useless since it can not longer be aimed.
3. Their firepower can stop a zombie horde cold: While there is no argument that a tank has a great deal of firepower that does not mean that they are the end all answer to zombie combat. Yes, a main battle tank does carry a big gun that can do tremendous amounts of damage, however, even with canister shot it will only do some much against zombies. The fact that the average canister load out for a tank ranges between two and four rounds mean that you have somewhere between little to no chance in stopping a major horde, especially since canister is simple a massive shotgun and to kill a zombie you have to destroy the brain. Also, of note, in the case of the M1 Abrams the depleted uranium rounds that it is famous for are completely useless. The coaxial and top mounted machine guns, however, do offer a real possibility at force multiplication, especially the coaxial since these machine guns are known to be some of the most accurate since they are mounted into a structure that can be made to be very stable and the only variables being the wind and bullet drop.

Just because the myths that many believe about tanks are false this does not mean that tanks could never be used. They would make very good strong points in a large base against not just zombies but also the human enemy. Their coaxial guns could also be used to thin out the undead at a greater distance than most of the survivors could reliably accomplish. However, they are simply not up to the task of hard fighting with limited maintenance and few if any replacement parts. However, if you must use an armored vehicle look to a wheeled APC or a light armored vehicle, less firepower but more mobility and easier to maintain. Let’s face facts here, how often do zombies drive tanks, and how many people are going to be carrying anti-tank rockets or missiles.

Stay safe.  Stay informed.  Stay alive.