Army Uses Zombie Apocalypse to Teach Preparation

Much more interesting than those boring old earthquakes

The Army figures that the zombie apocalypse has a lot to teach soldiers about being prepared for the next hurricane.

Officers at Fort Sam Houston in Texas actually brought Max Brooks, author of the latter-day classic zombie novel World War Z, to attend the U.S. Army-North's Hurricane Rehearsal of Concept drill this week. Not that the soldiers were anticipating any zombies. From Brooks' perspective, whether you're confronting extreme weather that shorts out a power grid or running from a marauding horde of the undead, preparation is the key to survival.

"For the first time," Brooks said, according to an official Army write-up, "you have young people being interested in being prepared, being 'tricked into' taking care of themselves, really, because even if the zombie apocalypse does not happen, they will be ready for the next hurricane or next disaster." The Centers for Disease Control concur.