No, this is not a joke. Security firm HALO Corp. recently announced that 1,000 military personnel, medical experts, police officials, and federal workers will be trained on how defend against a zombie apocalypse as part of an annual counter-terrorism summit, according to the Military Times.
Don’t panic just yet. Although the training begins next month, the Military Times made sure to remind everyone that zombies are not real, even if their has been a lot of strange zombie-like behavior publicized in the media lately.
Zombie apocalypse training will only make up a small part of the summit’s course load which will have attendees training for a zombie-like virus outbreak, not for fighting off actual undead flesh eaters.
Visitors will learn how to cope in a situation where people might become crazed or violent during a potential widespread pandemic. Fake zombies will be reaking havoc on the summit ground in San Diego during the conference where troops and first-aid teams will be participating.
While the HALO training program might be all in good fun, the CDC has released statements to clarify that zombies do not exist, due to the cannibal-like behavior of the face-eating man in Miami from earlier this year.
“CDC does not know of a virus or condition that would reanimate the dead (or one that would present zombie-like symptoms),” wrote agency spokesman David Daigle.
When unexplainable and horrific events like that happen, some reassurance is definitely necessary.