Happy Halloween – Ready for the Zombies?

Preparing for a zombie apocalypse has been a go-to scenario for imaginative resilience professionals. In fact, that once included the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)! In 2011, the DoD developed strategies to combat a zombie uprising, called the “Counter-Zombie Dominance Plan,” or CONPLAN 8888-11. While acknowledging the potential threat was fictional, it also specified the plan was to be taken seriously as it could be applied to real-life military hot zones. Younger officers participating in the Joint Operational Planning and Execution System the previous year realized the thought experiment actually encouraged more creative and unconventional ideas and responses. The 31-page document breaks down into three sections:

• Create and uphold a defensive plan
• Establish procedures to eradicate any threat of zombies
• Restore law and order to a war-ridden economy

The zombie threat itself is broken down into eight categories. Though most reflect standard pop-culture origins (outbreak, magic), one reflects a real-life incident from 2006, when farmers unsuccessfully euthanized chickens with carbon monoxide – and found some improbably surviving hens walking around until their bodies died of internal organ failure. If you’re looking for more unconventional planning inspiration, you can read the plan here.