Zombie Squad

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Zombie Squad
Zombie Squad logo
Abbreviation	ZS
Motto	We make dead things deader
Formation	2003
Purpose/focus	Disaster preparedness and community service
Headquarters	St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Main organ	Board of directors
Website	www.zombiehunters.org

Zombie Squad, frequently abbreviated to ZS, is a community service and disaster preparedness organization that uses the metaphor of a "Zombie Apocalypse" or "Zombocalypse", as ZS calls it, for any natural or man-made disaster (hurricane, terrorism, earthquake, etc.). Zombie Squad was created by Horror fans who combined their shared interests of zombies and experience with disaster preparedness. It describes itself as an "elite zombie suppression task force ready to defend your neighborhood from the shambling hordes of the walking dead."^[1]

1 History
2 Concept
3 Forums
4 Chapter Locations
5 Community Service
6 Other Community Activity
7 Reaction from outside
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

[edit] History

Zombie Squad was created in St. Louis, Missouri in the summer of 2003. After watching the British horror movie 28 Days Later, a group of friends began discussing how they would prepare for a zombism epidemic, and how they would have handled the challenges faced by the characters in the film. This was the initial inspiration for Zombie Squad.^[2]

The stated goal of the organization is to present disaster preparedness in a manner which allows for serious exploration of multiple worst-case scenarios, while still maintaining a sense of humor and remaining grounded in non-disaster life. ZS combines a large online presence via its forums with community service and charity event participation to spread its message.

Since the initial conception of the organization in 2003, ZS has grown into a small cult phenomenon with thousands of members all over North America and members in countries all over the world, including the UK, the Netherlands, the Philippines, and Serbia among others. The success may be due in part to the synergy between two phenomena that have emerged in the new millennium: A resurgence of zombies in pop culture, with hit video games (the Resident Evil franchise, Dead Rising, Stubbs the Zombie etc.) and films (28 Days Later, the Resident Evil series, the Dawn of the Dead remake, Shaun of the Dead, Land of the Dead etc.) combined with a renewed interest in disaster preparedness in the wake of natural disasters (2004 Tsunami in Indonesia, Hurricane Katrina) and high profile terrorist attacks (failed millennium plots, 9/11, 3/11, and the 2005 London bombings).

Zombie Squad's strict organizational refusal to adopt any one ideological stance has also helped to create a community which is open to people from all backgrounds and walks of life. This has also helped draw members who see the value in some measure of disaster preparedness but did not relate well to other survival enthusiast organizations.

Despite Zombie Squad's tongue-in-cheek nature, the members of the organization bring a surprising amount of experience ranging from civilian American Red Cross disaster response volunteers and amateur radio emergency communications enthusiasts to professionally trained paramedics, firefighters and military personnel.^[2]

[edit] Concept

The basic concept behind Zombie Squad is that zombies are a useful metaphor for a worst-case scenario; if someone is prepared to survive the complete breakdown of society due to an uprising of the living dead, then he or she will be prepared for almost any real-world disaster or emergency conceivable. Or stated more simply, "If you can survive a zombie apocalypse, you can survive anything." The zombie metaphor was chosen for humor, originality, and as a bait and switch for horror movie fans, science fiction fans, gamers and others who otherwise may not be drawn to the idea of disaster preparedness or community involvement. Thus the claim on Zombie Squad's website that they are "an elite zombie suppression task force ready to defend your neighborhood from the shambling hordes of the walking dead"^[1] is to be taken in the playful spirit of the site and not literally.^{[citation needed]} Site traffic for both the main page and the forums increases noticeably when high-profile zombie movies such as 2005's Land of the Dead are announced or released, attesting to the effectiveness of the zombie-metaphor as a hook.

[edit] Forums

The bulk of Zombie Squad's disaster preparedness and survival information can be found in its forums. Additionally, some of this information makes its way to the main page and the Zombie Squad RSS feed. The content of the forum is predominantly user-generated, and consists of a combination of information gathered from outside sources and personal experience. Collaboration between forum members transcends the forums proper, with members frequently joining together to perform "real life" activities related to preparedness (camping, mock "bug out" exercises, shooting range outings, etc.), take part in fundraisers, socialize, or team up in online multiplayer games such as Eve online and Urban Dead.

Brian is the official ZS mascot. He is a line art zombie featured on the red ZS T-shirt, one of the downloadable shooting targets and the ZS Neighboorhood Watch flyer. "Brian" is an anagram of "brain", as according to movie lore, zombies crave the brains of the living.

[edit] Chapter Locations

Zombie Squad has four official chapters at this time:

Zombie Squad Chapter 001 - based in St. Louis, is also referred to as "HQ". This chapter comprises all of Missouri and Illinois at this time.
Zombie Squad Chapter 002 - based in Pennsylvania, and comprises all of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York at this time.
Zombie Squad Chapter 003 - based in Toronto, is also known as "ZS North". This chapter comprises all of southern Ontario at this time.
Zombie Squad Chapter 004 - this chapter comprises all of southern Northwest Arkansas at this time.

In addition to these four, additional chapters are planned. Many ZS forum members from countries across the world also plan and participate in smaller get-togethers, although these do not constitute "official" Zombie Squad events.

A ZS "zombologist" lectures the Archon crowd about his captive undead subject.

[edit] Community Service

One of the first major events that ZS participated in was Archon in 2004. They hosted a seminar that dealt with basic disaster preparation under the guise of how to "survive a zombie apocalypse" which included the creation and use of a bug-out bag (or BOB), which they have continued to host annually at the convention.

Since its inception in 2003, ZS has organized charity events for organizations such as Meals on Wheels, American Red Cross,^[3] Youth In Need, Feed My People, Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean County, Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Project S.H.A.R.E. and they have held fundraiser for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the May 2007 Tornado Outbreak.^[4]^[5]

They have participated in several flash mob-like events known as Zombie Walks to raise awareness for blood drives for the American Red Cross and local food banks. Their contributions charity organizations have also included zombie movie nights, trivia nights, Hotwheels car races, food collection, and holiday parties.^[6]

[edit] Other Community Activity

Zombie Squad's principal event is a convention known as ZombieCon.^[7] The first annual ZombieCon took place in June of 2005, and was staged in the style of a camping/hiking trip in Irondale, Missouri. ZombieCons consist of survival seminars, trips to a local shooting range, watching zombie movies and canoeing. A similar event called Wintergeddon is held in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee, the first of which occurred on January 5th, 2006.^[8]

[edit] Reaction from outside

Due to the tongue-in-cheek nature of the ZS concept, someone who has not taken the time to read over the main page/forums in depth may mistakenly believe that Zombie Squad members are cosplayers or somewhat delusional, self-styled mercenaries, or even a militia group which believes in the existence of the walking dead. This has led to multiple instances of internet trolls spamming the forums with messages that zombies are fictional and that ZS members were suffering from mental illness.

HAFU or "Human Advocates For Undead" has protested Zombie Squad at Archon. The group, who employs a similar tongue-in-cheek sensibility to ZS, is modeled after human rights groups, and fights to protect "the rights of those who have been denied the privilege of fully cognizant life" insisting that "zombies are people, too". Their members comprise friends of the Fear The Boot podcast. Fear The Boot conducted an interview with HAFU about the 2006 Archon protest.

Something Awful featured Zombie Squad on its The Weekend Web in January, 2007.^[9] ZS was lampooned as being a role playing website whose members have not yet faced the fact that the zombie fad is over.