[Valleyaggie]

I agree with many of the points made here; mostly, that yes, there are reasons the military would fail as a whole but that there are probably enclaves of military outposts here and there throughout the world. The breakdown of communications simply makes it impossible for people to know. As pointed out, this show takes place in one area of Georgia. We have no idea what is happening in other parts of the world.

 

Shameless plug: You could read what I imagine could happen down here where I live in my fan fic.

[Deadpelican]

Exactly.  Carl is years into the apocalypse and knows what zombies are and how to kill them.  He knew about headshots while the military during the initial outbreak did not.  And even still, Carl just barely avoided getting killed.

 

 

Well, I'd call this more a problem of the show's silly and inconsistent internal logic. 

I was one of the very few people who gave "After" a score of "poor," and that's one of the big reasons. 

 

In the first episode,  we're told that popping off just one round   draws scores of walkers. 

 

Carl is firing off bullets right and left and hey, no problem.  Not to mention that nobody is making new bullets, yet everybody still seems to have  plenty of ammo several years into the ZA. 

[Deadpelican]

HUH??

 

What history class did you forget to take?  History is polluted with badly supplied armies winning battles / wars against greater odds.   

 

You mean like the Alamo?  

What history class did YOU Forget to take? Or should I say, which  two dozen or so history classes did you forget to take? 

Or maybe I should ask how many  colleges  did you drop out of? 

[Serenity@sea]

There is no reason to start getting snarky here. We can have a discussion without making it personal.

[Blasko_Z]

Well, I'd call this more a problem of the show's silly and inconsistent internal logic. 

I was one of the very few people who gave "After" a score of "poor," and that's one of the big reasons. 

 

In the first episode,  we're told that popping off just one round   draws scores of walkers. 

 

Carl is firing off bullets right and left and hey, no problem.  Not to mention that nobody is making new bullets, yet everybody still seems to have  plenty of ammo several years into the ZA. 

 

This just seems like you wanting there to be a problem. We have seen instances of both situations. Multiple times. Sometimes (when there are walkers nearby) more walkers flood into an area from the sound of a gunshot, and sometimes (when no walkers are nearby) they don't. Is it really so hard to imagine that there just weren't that many walkers in the area Carl was firing off those rounds? 

 

To me, it would be so much worse if it was just one of the two options all the time. It makes more consistent sense that any area you go to could have loads of walkers, or none at all.

[head_creeps]

That's what I thought was the reason Carl said "Cool" after his close call -- because he realized his guns shots didn't attract more walkers.  I.e., the area is mostly walker free and he got off lucky.  Cool.

 

/shrug

[Deadpelican]

There is no reason to start getting snarky here. We can have a discussion without making it personal.

 

Didn't mean to lash out but I guess I kinda did. 

 

Sorry.

[d2daybreak]

Carl knows what Walkers are and knew how to kill them. The military probably didn't have that advantage.

 

 

Exactly.  Carl is years into the apocalypse and knows what zombies are and how to kill them.  He knew about headshots while the military during the initial outbreak did not.  And even still, Carl just barely avoided getting killed.

 

I agree that it isn't that difficult to understand the breakdown of the government and military given a ZA outbreak. However, not knowing about head shots is not true of the government/military early on in the outbreak. During the flashback where Shane goes to Rick in the hospital, the military come in and execute dozens of people using shots to the head, not center mass, the HEAD. That says that the military knew that everyone reanimated after death and they didn't want to have to kill those folks twice and that the way to stop them before and after reanimation was to injure the head. They were disposing of the sick before they died, reanimated, and joined the walker army.

 

Now, if they could have disposed of the actual walkers as efficiently, there wouldn't have been a zombie apocalypse, just a zombie outbreak.

[etphoto]

You mean like the Alamo?  

 

 

The Alamo is a bad example.  They ran out of gas for their jeeps, tanks and trucks that apparently they needed to have a successful army. 

[Draven]

I agree that it isn't that difficult to understand the breakdown of the government and military given a ZA outbreak. However, not knowing about head shots is not true of the government/military early on in the outbreak. During the flashback where Shane goes to Rick in the hospital, the military come in and execute dozens of people using shots to the head, not center mass, the HEAD. That says that the military knew that everyone reanimated after death and they didn't want to have to kill those folks twice and that the way to stop them before and after reanimation was to injure the head. They were disposing of the sick before they died, reanimated, and joined the walker army.

 

Now, if they could have disposed of the actual walkers as efficiently, there wouldn't have been a zombie apocalypse, just a zombie outbreak.

 

that was proberly the last desperate attempt to slow down the outbreak.

[d2daybreak]

that was proberly the last desperate attempt to slow down the outbreak.

 

That may be true, but people were saying that Carl was successful when the military wasn't because Carl knew to make a head shot. That isn't true. The flashback of Shane going to Rick in the hospital proves the military knew about head shots. So, the military knew about head shots and still crumbled under the unrelenting assault of the ZA.

[mosher]

The fact that the military as an institution would break down is irrelevant to the question. Deadpelican makes a great argument as to why the centralized superstructure of a military machine is over. But that isn't relevant. That doesn't speak to an isolated group of 12 soldiers who band together to survive the way our heroes have. Like it or not, people trained in combat will be better prepared against other humans, and similarly prepared against walkers. I still maintain that there are certainly military run groups out there.

[Blasko_Z]

 I still maintain that there are certainly military run groups out there.

 

The show has given us instances of this very thing, so of course there are. To deny that possibility would be to spit in the face of logic and evidence.

[Deadpelican]

 

Yeah, but the OP"s original statement was that patches of humans have survived the ZA but the military is decimated, and the OP seems to think that it's not plausible (or something). 

 

The military are in the service of the US government.. 

 

There is no US government.

 

It simply does not exist.  

[SteadyEddie]

Yeah, but the OP"s original statement was that patches of humans have survived the ZA but the military is decimated, and the OP seems to think that it's not plausible (or something). 

 

The military are in the service of the US government.. 

 

There is no US government.

 

It simply does not exist.  

 

I'd have to believe that with all the resources to protect members of congress and the POTUS, that perhaps there is a chance that some leaders have survived and are sheltered away in an underground bunker with years worth of potable water and food. A nuclear bunker.

 

But then again, just one person dies, and turns, and all bets are off. That's one of the things I expected to happen at the prison. Someone dies unexpectedly in the night. I would have slept every night with the cell door locked. For my protection and everybody else's. But I digress...

 

I have to believe at some point, that society gets a hold on this. They figure out ways to manage walkers. Corral them en masse into a big pen somewhere in the open and drop a daisy-cutter right on top of them. Remember how the herd that ran through Hershel's farm was originally following a helicopter? Take choppers, play some goddamn Nickelback (because only brain-dead zombies like that shit) through some bullhorn speakers, right out into an open field, and drop a damn MOAB right on top of their sorry asses. Yeah. Fuck yeah.

[Narren]

Yeah, but the OP"s original statement was that patches of humans have survived the ZA but the military is decimated, and the OP seems to think that it's not plausible (or something). 

 

The military are in the service of the US government.. 

 

There is no US government.

 

It simply does not exist.  

 

 

Assuming that that there is no US government (a good assumption, but we don't know that) that doesn't mean that the military went POOF and disappeared.  The military may or may not be able to end a zombie apocolypse, but they are still a large group of disciplined men and women with more guns, ammo, equipment, and training than any other organization.  It is unthinkable to assume that while there may be no more central command structure, small groups in the military would be much more likely to fare better than just the rag-tag groups we mostly see.

[Narren]

I apparently can't figure out how to edit, but that last sentence should read that it's unthinkable to assume that the military would NOT have more groups that survived.

[etphoto]

Assuming that that there is no US government (a good assumption, but we don't know that) that doesn't mean that the military went POOF and disappeared.  The military may or may not be able to end a zombie apocolypse, but they are still a large group of disciplined men and women with more guns, ammo, equipment, and training than any other organization.  It is unthinkable to assume that while there may be no more central command structure, small groups in the military would be much more likely to fare better than just the rag-tag groups we mostly see.

 

Very well said. 

[auximenes]

Everybody knows that a head-shot equates to an efficient kill. Even if the general knowledge of the way Walkers operate, plenty of people would still go for head shots. Military groups especially would figure it out fast that a head shot is the way to go.

[Narren]

Everybody knows that a head-shot equates to an efficient kill. Even if the general knowledge of the way Walkers operate, plenty of people would still go for head shots. Military groups especially would figure it out fast that a head shot is the way to go.

 

Everyone seems to love to say that "police and military are trained to shoot for center mass"....which is true.  But even if they cops and soldiers took leave of any kind of common sense when a center mass shot doesn't work, modern training still says that if a center mass shot doesn't drop the target, go for a head shot.  People can wear body armor, after all.

 

Though I've never seen any training material on what to do if the head shot doesn't work.  That might start freaking people out.