SAN DIEGO -- Next month, a security firm will incorporate -- no kidding -- zombies into a disaster-crisis scenario at the company's annual Counter-Terrorism Summit here.
The five-day event will provide hands-on training, realistic demonstrations, lectures and classes geared to more than 1,000 military personnel, law enforcement officials, medical experts, and state and federal government workers.
The far-fetched scenario of a government grappling a zombielike threat -- think movies like "Night of the Living Dead" or, more comically, "Zombieland" -- captured the imagination of President Brad Barker of HALO Corp.
HALO will take over the 44-acre Paradise Point resort in the city's popular Mission Bay and create a series of terrorist scenarios, with immersive Hollywood sets including a Middle Eastern village and a pirates' haven. Retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, a former CIA and National Security Agency director, and Mexico Interior Secretary Alejandro Poire Romero will speak during the summit, which runs Oct. 30 to Nov. 2.
Barker calls the scenario "Zombie Apocalypse." That phrase took off last year after the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unveiled a campaign aimed on being prepared for major emergencies, natural disasters and pandemics.
n the CDC's Preparedness 101 program, fictional zombies are used to drive home the message that Americans must be ready for any emergency -- even the kind that, hypothetically, could stem from a brain-eating virus pandemic.
Zombies also star in a 40-page comic book the CDC published, a tongue-in-cheek take on the serious scenario of a mutated virus that quickly spreads as the government dispatches its military to maintain order while infectious disease specialists scour for a vaccine.
"The â??Zombie Apocalypse' is very whimsical," Barker said, noting the setting is intended to add some levity to the more dire scenarios summit goers will encounter -- incidents depicting active shooters inside a hospital or downed pilots trapped behind enemy lines, for instance. The pandemic medical nightmare is bound to be an attention-getter among people attending the summit.
"They are going to see a lot of stuff go down," Barker said. "It is a Hollywood production."
The zombies who roam the island will harass the troops, first-aid teams and medical responders participating, Barker said. HALO declined to detail the scenario just yet, saying only that the idea is to challenge authorities as they respond to extreme medical situations where people become crazed and violent, creating widespread fear and disorder.
For the record: Zombies are not real. However, earlier this year the word was used rather liberally to describe a rash of incidents involving cannibalistic attacks -- the most high-profile of which involved one man biting the flesh off another man's face in late May in Miami. Police suspect drugs, not a brain-eating virus, provoked the attack.
Beyond zombies, the HALO event will weave in lessons learned from real disasters and terror events, including attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan and the deadly 2008 bombing in Mumbai, India. Cyber terrorism will have a leading role in sessions and courses throughout the summit.
"The new battlefield is cyberspace, for sure," Barker said.
That means that during the summit, participants' cellphones and email accounts could be hacked, said Tim McAtee, a former Marine now working as HALO's tactical operations director. Some might be rattled when they realize how easy it is for a hostile force to compromise their personal information and what the broader national-security implications of a cyber attack could be.
"The awareness is going to be monumental," he said.
HALO is composed of former military special operators as well as intelligence and national security experts. The company trains military units and federal and state agencies in security, counterterrorism, force protection, emergency response and disaster management.
To help pull off such an elaborate production, HALO has partnered with Strategic Operations Inc., which specializes in hyper-realistic tactical and combat trauma training that makes use of special effects and actors.
The company has helped train thousands of sailors, soldiers and Marines in counterinsurgency missions, urban patrols, security operations and combat trauma in the past decade at its San Diego training studio and on military bases.
I had to escape a mob of Hare Krishna's once. They're almost like zombies except they try to sell you things.
I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming in terror like his passengers.
I really detest this Zombie thing
Zombies are nothing but a dishonest stand in, they are simply being used because the vast majority of "North American people" do not want to think about killing or being killed by terrorists, criminals, or foreign forces ( which do exist ) attacking us because no matter what or who they pretend they are shooting at, the targets they are going to look like a race or a religion, and then somebody is going to get their panties in a twist and accuse somebody else of racial profiling, accuse somebody of claiming they are an enemy. To me it is nothing but a big cop out, It's okay to pretend and practice killing creatures which have risen from the dead ( and Do Not Exist), thats way more acceptable than shooting at targets with distinctive head gear, uniforms or a skin tone different than yours because if you do that you are a racist and if you say it is an undead zombie then it all good and perfectly acceptable no matter who they look like.
Those people who you don't want to offend are sure as hell not pretending to be beheading zombies, they don't give one crap about being racists or hating North Americans ( just turn on the news), they look like they look, they sure don't look like a plague of undead.
So my targets all look like silhouettes, with Target points for head, heart and groin. 3 center of mass, 3 in the third eye to say goodbye and just incase there really is an after life 3 in the groin so they won't be doing any breeding.
Between you me and the doorpost we all know we are not really prepping for a zombie hoard invasion, I refuse to lie to myself, because I have seen too much to pretend that the ginger bread man, the big bad werewolf or zombies is who want to take my life, for what I own , where I live or what I believe.
Okay now sorry for ranting, I wrote this a couple times telling myself not to vent, because it isn't worth it ... but to me it is.
Things I say are my opinion, which is like belly buttons everybody has one.
Anything I say is not meant to anger or offend just to encourage discussion between adults.
What a great use of resources having a zombie exercise.
The advantage of zombies is that they always in season!
Zombies Eh?
I must admit i am a bit of a fan of the horror genre. Still watch them and i look forward to the new season of walking dead in october after all who doesnt like watching something where you never know whats going to happen (most of the time anyway)
Reason i am posting is because i heard something interesting once about zombies. If you were to take away the fact that they are undead what do you have ? A really hungry human that would do anything for food! If you think about it weve all heard a story one way or another where someone was absolutely starving and hadnt ate for a long while they do things they definately normally wouldnt do and delusion isnt far off.
Just saying maybe thats the way they're looking at it, a mass of "Zombies" (really hungry delusional people) attacking. After all when SHTF what do you notice first ? (if your not prepared) Hunger maybe ?
my two cents 😀
Just watched a documentary on Hoover and the way he helped the starving Russian population in the early 20's. Parents were killing a child of their own to feed the rest of the family. People were digging up corpses. The story went on and on how those people died etc. Zombies no, but if the outcome is the same, what is the difference between the two?
Just watched a documentary on Hoover and the way he helped the starving Russian population in the early 20's. Parents were killing a child of their own to feed the rest of the family. People were digging up corpses. The story went on and on how those people died etc. Zombies no, but if the outcome is the same, what is the difference between the two?
survival?
I think the crisis scenario is a way to hide that they need to practice on the regular population without upsetting anyone. Most in North America could not imagine what is happening in the middle east ever happening here except for preppers, survivalists and military.
well put Oldschool. General population no season, zombies open season. It's all in the definition. Definitions can change.