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Yes, the Pentagon Actually Has Plans for When the Zombies Arrive

Their training plan details operations for real-life Dawn of the Dead.

When it comes to being prepared for anything, the pentagon wins pretty much hands down. It turns out they have a plan just in case of zombie apocalypse. No, really!

Business Insider reports the plan is laid out in an unclassified document known as CONPLAN 8888 and goes into detail on five phases of operation to deal with the zombie threat. You may be wondering why they would spend time and resources on something so silly. CONPLAN 8888 was actually developed as a training tool for military strategists.

"This plan was not actually designed as a joke," a disclaimer in the document states. "During the summers of 2009 and 2010, while training augmentees from a local training squadron about the JOPP, members of a USSTRATCOM component found out (by accident) that the hyperbole involved in writing a 'zombie survival plan' actually provided a very useful and effective training tool."

Using the zombie apocalypse as a framework also helps them to create a theoretical plan for resolving political fallout without someone in the public mistaking it for a real operation.

Theoretical operation or training exercise, there are 31 pages to sift through if you're bored. And it's actually a pretty entertaining read in places. There is a summary of the various kinds of zombie threats with everything from traditional pathogenic zombies to space zombies and even chicken zombies identified as potential undead threats.

CONPLAN 8888 also gives a brief overview of offensive and defensive operations to respond and eliminate the zombie threat in an effort to restore order. The plans also discuss how a potential virus might spread, how zombies may be affected by weather, factors important to human survival and even thoughts on legal considerations against the undead.

Reading through CONPLAN 8888, much of the information regarding a real-life "Dawn of the Dead" is definitely tongue-in-cheek. It may be completely ridiculous, but it never hurts to be prepared for anything and everything right?

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